Life in the Wayne Mansion
by unsanctuaire
Summary: It all started with the mission of saving Roy Harper and then her mother died two days later. Her uncle is too busy dealing with two very emotional Roy and now she's adopted into the Wayne family as a big sister. How will she cope over the fact that her 'little brother' and very emotional 'big brother' is in love with her. And now everyone is teasing her about 'incest'. Not. Cool.
1. Chapter 1

_Hello guys! This is my first YJ fic and I hope you do like it. This story is slight Traught maybe a few other side pairings~  
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_Chapter 1: Crazy, Stupid, Blackmail  
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This is a crazy and a stupid idea.

Well more on the stupid idea really.

Like, what the hell is she thinking of saving the _real _Roy Harper with a three-man team. Yeah. This isn't going to bode well.

And she knew it was already a bad idea since _**none**_ of her mentors even know where she is. Yeah, _**none**_ of them freaking know! Man, she could already picture Batman's permanent scowl on his face as he scolds her and Green Arrow giving his I'm-so-disappointed-in-you-but-whatever-you-saved-my-son-so-thank-you. And then Black Canary would kill her with more training. Ugh. She knew this was a bad idea.

It was even more of a bad idea, since she is working with her sister and _Dane_ Harper. (He changed his name after emo-ing for a week how he doesn't have a name of his own and that he was a clone).

Her sister, Jade Nguyen or Cheshire, the infamous assassin who is –_was? —_part of League of Shadows. Actually, she doesn't even know if Cheshire is even part of the League anymore and even she is, she doesn't care (_no she really cares, what if she suddenly stabs them in the back or just disappear like 'Cheshire Cat' if they get caught). _

Ok Artemis, heads up don't even think of the bad things.

This was only a one-time team up with Cheshire. She just knew the back of her head, that if they do manage to save the real redhead arrow, she'll be seeing a lot of Roy and Dane. She knew that Oliver Queen doesn't even know how to care his wards. Yeah, he's pretty horrible at it and pretty hopeless. No wonder Roy-Dane turned out all grumpy and shit (before finding out he was clone of course).

"Artemis! Are you even listening to the plan?"

The blonde archer snapped out from her thoughts and stared right into the gorgeous eyes of –oh yeah—Dane Harper. It wouldn't be so bad to look at _two_ Roy Harpers… "Uh… Yes?"

Cheshire rolled her eyes, knowing pretty well her little sister did not listen a word of what they had said a few seconds ago. How the hell did Artemis get the job as Talia al Ghul's personal assassin/bodyguard years ago? Talia is not that kind of person who would repeat an order.

"Pay attention!" Cheshire snapped and once again pointed at a road on the map. "Here, is the transfer point, where they switch drivers and cargos. The good thing about this and how easy this is going to be is that, this just a bunch of regular people—regular security guards. No meta-human nor any assassin or bulky guy is protecting it. So, Dane is going to distract the security guard—"

"I don't understand why I have to do this? I think it'd make more sense for a girl to distract those guards." Dane crossed his arms in defiance. There is no way he's going to be a mere distraction while he lets the girls do the infiltration. It should be his job! As an honor of Roy's clone dammit!

Artemis and Cheshire glanced at each other before grinning back at the redhead archer. "Puh-lease, from an inside source I have, Dane, I heard you were quite good at distraction those guards back at the Cleveland mission two years ago." The blonde archer said, with a glint of evil twinkling in her eye.

"And that is why, Dane, you are entrusted with this hard job." Cheshire puts hand on his shoulder, with a fake sympathy shown clearly on her face.

Dane's faced turned red as lava. "Who the fuck told you that? It was Robin wasn't it? I know it was that little troll. I swear, when I get my hands on him, I'm going to strangle him to freaking death!"

Then Artemis lays a hand on his other _toned_ shoulder (oh yeah), with the biggest grin on her face. "Actually, it was Kaldur who told me. It took me a while, but his tongue became loose after a few vodkas."

Dane's eyes bulged in shocked. Kaldur? Kaldur'ahm? Aqualad? IT WAS HIM? That… That… little fish prick boy, he was going to fry him. No. He was going to fry all of the fishes in the goddamn ocean and eat it in front of him! Ha! Take that AquaBAD!

"Oh look, the trucks are here." Artemis pointed out. Then she slightly nudged Dane. "Go on—Do your _job_."

"Shut up."

After the redhead left to _seduce_ those guards with his manly charms, Artemis memory after that became a blur. It happened so fast. First, she was just running towards the trucks with her sister, then there was a little argument about names—superhero names (how Artemis for a superhero name is stupid and Cheshire is still surprised that people hasn't connected Artemis to Artemis Crock), and to the part where they were dragging a really paperweight body of Roy Harper (holy shit he's missing an arm) to safety.

Artemis sighed once she reached her sister's safe house. Her shoulder is dislocated, her left arm has a gash and she has a bullet wound on her right thigh. Cheshire's clothes were tattered and ripped and she also had some bloody wounds, but not bad as hers. Then there was Dane, with no freaking injury on him.

He smirks at the archer. "I'm almost glad that I took on that job."

The archer rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Shut up and call Oliver. He must be worried sick that we were gone for three days and we didn't even tell him." She watched the redhead roll his eyes at her before walking to the other room. She turns her attention to her older sister.

"You got the whole thing on camera?"

"Hell yes."


	2. Chapter 2

___Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews, favs, and alerts! It certainly made my day! :D Anyways, to answer candi711's question; yes this is an AU before the timeskip. The story starts after Auld Acquaintance and the story progresses to the time-skip. I'll be changing a few of Artemis's family info, and her relations to her mentor, GA or IDK. I'm still deciding on that. So enjoy the second chapter! c:_

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_Chapter 2: __And When She Died_  


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He should've realized this sooner! His ward has been missing for three days and he didn't even notice till now! Oliver knew something was weird for the past three days. And then there was the case of his niece, Artemis, who also has been missing for three days also. Her mom placed him in charge for Artemis when she went to some convention for something for a week.

Now, Oliver Queen found himself inside Mount Justice, surrounded by the Young Justice team (minus the missing archers) and their mentors. They all gave him questioning glances except for Batman who is currently scowling for no damn reason. Is there any other emotion this guy shows?

Batman was the first to ask him. Of course he would be first since the Batman needed to know everything that is going on after all, if it is concerning any of the team members. "Green Arrow, what is it you called us for?" He crosses his arms automatically, his permanent scowl in place.

Oliver resisted the urge to roll his eyes. God, why can't he be friendlier like Bruce Wayne? "I've called you all here today to inquire you all if you… uh have seen my wards lately?" Now he could feel Batman's scowl scorching in his head. It was as if he was saying, 'You lost both members of the team I'm running?'

Robin frowned and glanced at his mentor. The missing archers have been concerning him lately. After day one, he tried tracking where Artemis and Dane went, but all traces were untraceable. He didn't know how it was possible, but he's pretty sure that Artemis 'dark' past has a play into this. And speaking of a certain archer, ever since he kissed Artemis two week ago, he can't stop thinking about her. It was a kiss he can't ever forget. Hence, this is why he is concern of his—ahem—the archers.

Kid Flash crossed his arms and inquired teasingly, "I didn't know you had taken another ward."

"Shut up," Oliver scowled at the flash brat. He ignored the warning look from his girlfriend. "Has Artemis and Roy—Dane been here lately?"

"When was the last time you seen the both of them?" Batman asks with full of authority.

Oliver opened his mouth to respond, but closed again. Wait, he really needed to think about this. And he blamed half of this to Black Canary. She's such a distraction, a hot distraction. Heh, heh. "Ahem—well, the last time I saw Dane was exactly four days ago when he said he needed to do some soul searching at Denny's. I think I saw him with some Asian chick though. And I last saw Artemis was four days ago, carrying a duffel bag and said she was going to the cave and train with Black Canary."

Then Black Canary crossed her arm this time, "She didn't train with me four days ago." She frowned. She had gone shopping with M'Gann for some womanly needs.

Suddenly, there was a small –ahem—in the team and Kaldur stepped forward, with a slight embarrassment and guilt written all over his face. "I was the one that Artemis came to see four days ago."

"What did she want from you?" Robin inquired, with slight venom in his voice. Calm down; don't get angry at the leader. Kaldur likes some other chick.

The Atlantean face his head down to the floor. "She… got me drunk."

There was a loud guffawed. "No way, dude! She got you drunk? With what?" Kid Flash suddenly has a huge grin on his face.

"I believe it was called Vodka." Once again, Kid Flash roared in laughter. He kept laughing until he saw the glares he was receiving both from Batman and Robin. He could also see that Green Arrow was amused. Really amused.

Oliver deduced that duffel bag was a bunch of vodka that she gotten from her house.

"Why did she get you drunk for?" Batman interrogated the Atlantean.

Usually, a normal being with cower under the gaze of the Batman, but this was Kaldur. Human customs still eludes him (a little). "She wanted dirt on Ro—Dane." Kaldur looked away in shame. OH! How could he just tell the archer of the darkest secret Dane wanted to keep in the dark? He suddenly felt a tingly sensation in his spine—the scary one, like the revenge kind of sensation.

Oliver sighs, this was getting nowhere. "Ok, so we know that Artemis got Kaldur drunk for fun. She's probably on some expedition to get revenge on him after that prank he pulled a month ago." He cheekily grinned at that certain memory. It was the week that Artemis somehow convinced Batman to give her a week off.

It was also the week that Dane stole all of her uniform and replaced it with Speedy uniforms, Dane's old speedy uniforms that is. Artemis was forced to wear it, every day that week until she found her regular uniforms. Ha! That week was just priceless.

_"Speedy—"_

_"It's Artemis, GA. Call me that name again, I swear to god, I'll kick you in the balls so hard that—"_

_"—Speedy, take down those—OW!" _

"Green Arrow, why are you grinning like an idiot?" Black Canary disapprovingly said.

Oliver snapped out of his thoughts and coughed. "Well, I like to declare that my ex-sideki—"

"Partner," Wally corrects.

"—ex-partner and current partner are missing in action." There was a sudden silence. With all the looks Green Arrow received, it mostly said, 'no fucking shit Sherlock'.

"Actually, I've been trying to track Artemis's and Dane's location for quite some time now." Robin piped up. He pulled up the hologram map of Gotham. A glowing blue dot blinked for the spot of some run-down telephone booth. "That is the last zeta-beam Artemis used before she disappeared. Along with Dane. Both of them are untraceable." He gave his mentor the look. Even his mentor couldn't track the both of them.

"But where else would both of them go?" M'Gann said, thinking why and where Artemis would go with Dane.

"You guys don't think they went to try to find the real Roy Harper?" Connor suggested out of nowhere.

The room suddenly got quiet.

They wouldn't be stupid enough to go find the real Roy Harper without some kind of back-up and without the permission from Batman. That was just plain suicide. They needed more back-up, more than two archers!

And speak of the devil; Oliver's phone began to ring loudly. He pulls it out and looked at the caller id. "It's Dane."

"Pick it up," Black Canary urged, slightly nudging his arm.

He nodded and flipped his phone open and, "Where the hell have you been to? You two weren't stupid enough to go look—Wait. Wha-What? You— Are you serious? I—Ok, I'll tell her." Oliver looked at the team with pure shock on his face.

"Are they ok?" Black Canary asked.

He nodded. "Canary, they did it. They managed to find Roy from Cadmus. And they want you to set up a hospital bed for Roy. He's really malnourished and they should be coming right about now."

The zeta beam began to glow brighter and brighter until the computer announced arrivals of, "_Recognized, Red Arrow B-06, Artemis B-07, Speedy A-05_."

Dane was the first to materialize and looking all uninjured while on his arms was another red head with a—missing arm? Lastly, Artemis materializes with her uniform tattered and bloodied.

Nobody moved an inch when they arrived and Artemis and Dane felt like they came in a wrong time. Why were they looking at them as if they've grown another head or two? They have never felt so uncomfortable in their lives. Even Batman wasn't even acting! What the hell?

"Oh my god!" Finally, Black Canary suddenly cried out, with tears almost streaming down her face. She approached the Harpers hesitantly, hoping her mind is playing tricks, but it's not. She hastily grabbed Dane's arm and dragged him to the med bay.

Oliver came up to Artemis and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're ok and thank you for bringing him home."

"No problem, Uncle. You should be by his side since you know; he's kind of missing an arm." She felt his Uncle nodding before letting her go and running towards the med bay.

Artemis was unexpectedly bombarded with questions and hugs from her team. The whole group hug thing broke away when Batman cleared his throat and ordered the rest of the team to get out (even Boy Wonder). He wanted to personally interrogate the archer regarding of her unauthorized mission.

"What happened?"

"My sister found a trail of some Cadmus trucks shipping some new packages from Cadmus at their Washington D.C. base going to a new base at Vancouver. Dane and I formed a team with Cheshire, and from there we've been planning on how to encounter them. Then two hours earlier, the truck stopped at some stop 200 miles before the border to Canada. Dane distracted the drivers and the guards," Artemis snorted. "And Cheshire and I infiltrated the truck. We found Roy, ran to some unexpected guards, took them out, stole a helicopter and went to Cheshire's safe house."

Batman was still glaring at her even after finishing up her story. "What you did was utterly reckless and may have cost your life. But I congratulate you for this mission and saving Roy Harper from Cadmus."

Artemis swore he just smiled at her.

"Any injuries?"

"Uh…" Lying to the Batman would be utterly stupid. Obviously she is injured. "My shoulder was dislocated but I had Dane to put it back. I have a gash on my left arm, but I managed to disinfect it and sewed it up and put a bandage over it. Cheshire took out a bullet wound from my right thigh and cleaned it up for me."

Batman nodded at the report. He placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "I'm glad you're fine." And he walked out to the door, heading to the medical bay area where everyone might be at.

When the big Bat left, the little bird entered the briefing room. He hugged the archer tightly as he could without putting pressure on her injuries.

"I'm so glad you're ok."

"I never knew you cared so much, Rob."

"I always care for my teammates."

"Right—" After a few minutes, the blond tried to wiggle out of the tight hug but failed. "Robin, you can let me go now." She struggled some more, but the younger boy had tighten his hold around her.

"Unless you give me a kiss." Robin replied, slyly. Artemis could see that fucking smirk on his face right now.

There was a loud cough in the room and Robin immediately pressed his lips on hers for a second before he pulled away, grinning like a troll he is and left with his best friend. Artemis could only stand there, gaping, wondering, thinking, what the hell just happen?

She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a snicker from Zatanna. "Did he— what's going on Zee?"

Zatanna could only laugh as she approached her and lazily put her arm around the blonde's shoulder. "'Mis, birdy boy has a mad crush on you."

Artemis shook her head in denial. "No way; he— he can't suddenly have a crush on me after that kiss in New Years!"

The magician sighed, shaking her head. "I think birdy boy had that crush of his even before the kiss, 'Mis. Just accept the fact that he likes you and you might possibly like him too, unless you're crushing on someone else."

Artemis made a face at her best friend. "No, Zee. I'm not. I think I like to stay single until I graduate school or something."

"Robin and Artemis, sitting in a tree—"

"Shut up!"

.

Two days after all of the craziness surrounding the whole rescuing the real Roy Harper from Cadmus and fact that he's missing an arm. When he woke up, he was hysterical that he's missing an arm, but he was even more hysterical that some clone stole his life, his friends, his everything!

He couldn't even deal to see Dane after that. But he could handle Artemis Crock being in the room. The first day, Artemis tried to get him to see Dane, who also saved his life from Cadmus.

_"Don't be a brat. I don't care you missed three years of your life, but god damn it; it wasn't Dane's fault for stealing your identity. He seriously had no idea that he was clone, just until two weeks ago. Just don't blame all of this on Dane. He doesn't deserve that kind of shit. Especially when he had been spending all day and night trying to get trail on you for the past two weeks."_

After that, she was able to get Roy and Dane talking to each other with Oliver added to the mix. She stayed at the mountain for another day since she's also injured and the fact that Batman got mad at her for leaving the cave the same day she got back. All she wanted food at Denny's!

She mostly spends her time at the cave hanging out with her teammates until Sunday, the day her mother comes home from a convention at New York. She couldn't wait to tell her that she teamed up with her older sister to _save_ someone. Hah! Her mom will never let that down. Jade saving someone?

When Sunday finally came, Oliver came to her and thanked her once again for bring Roy home and getting both Harpers to talk to each other. "Roy wants to get a prosthetic arm and wants to re-learn using the bow and arrow. I just want to ask you—"

"Yes, I'll teach him."

"Great, thanks. Dane is teaching him too, but I think Roy would want some female company."

Artemis snorted at that comment before leaving via zeta beam. It was about sun down by the time she arrived at Gotham and smelled the murky air that is Gotham. She walked down to her apartment with a grin on her face. She really couldn't wait to tell her story to her mom.

When she reached for her door knob to her apartment, she abruptly felt a chill. She ignored the feeling, but in the back of her mind that something happened. She quickly opens the door, and when she did, she was engulfed with the familiar smell of blood.

She quickly spotted the blood first, and then her eyes shakily move to the corpse on the floor.

Blood.

Her… mother was murdered.

Artemis felt cold.

Why did this happen to her mother? She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve death.

Who would…? Who would do such a thing?

She staggered to the table where a note is waiting for her. She felt dizzy, confused, and enraged. Who would-?

_You should've stayed in the family business baby girl – Daddy_

She crumpled the note and flipped the table in rage. She silently collapsed on the floor, sobbing quietly.

It took about ten minutes for the GCPD to arrive at her house with Commissioner Gordon. He was the first person that Artemis thought of calling. Because she's close to Barbara, she also gotten to know Commissioner Gordon.

"You're welcome to stay at my house, if you want. I know you would need a friend to confide in all of this." He offered and she took it.

Artemis wanted nothing but to see Barbara and Bette, her two best friends at Gotham Academy.

Gordon had told his men to handle this before leaving with Artemis. He wanted to get temporary custody of the girl before bringing him home. Being the commissioner of GCPD, it only took about ten minutes. And before Artemis knew it, she was in the arms of Barbara crying her heart out at her bedroom.

The archer admits that this was the first time that she cried for anything at all. Even though, she barely knew her mother, it pained her that she couldn't get to know her more. She practically grew up in the household of al Ghul as she trained to be an assassin for them at a young age.

Barbara comforted the blonde girl until she fell asleep that night. The next two days, she didn't go to school. She didn't feel like facing the world outside.

That afternoon, Bette came over with notes and homework for the past two days. The three of them talked about her past, about her mother, about the fact she never thought she cared so much of a woman she barely knew.

"Artemis, I think you really should call your Uncle and Dick. He's worried sick about you." Bette informed the archer, after handing checking out how many missed calls the archer has. Currently, it has 161 missed calls.

Artemis didn't know if Batman found out, but she told Gordon that she didn't want any of this on the media. She didn't want any of the media's pity. "I'll call them later."

Bette sighed and handed her phone. "No. At least call your Uncle. He must be worried sick and you should know that Gordon can't be your guardian for long."

She has a point there. Artemis opened her phone and scrolled down on the missed call list. The last few were from her team and Oliver. She hovered over Oliver's name on the list before pressing on his name and instantly calling him.

She needed her Uncle.

.

Green Arrow tuned out whatever Superman is talking about. He can ask Black Canary about it later. His mind is already occupied of thoughts of his two current wards and how they are having a hard time communicating with each other.

And then there's case about his missing niece. She hasn't picked up her phone in the past two days and he couldn't find the time to go over at Gotham to check up on her and her mother. But lately, he's been occupied with League missions that Superman keep sending him into.

When a tune of his cellphone ringed, he could feel half of the League glaring at him. He apologized and took out his phone to see who was calling him. His eyes bugged out at the name of the caller ID and ignoring the League's glare, he answered, "Artemis! Where have you been? I've been worried sick about you! Jeez! I'm surprised your mom hasn't called me yet to ask where you've been!—_What?_ Two days ago? How come you didn't—I'm coming over right now." He quickly stood up and began running towards the exit.

"HEY! Meeting isn't over!" Superman called out.

"Ollie, where are you going?" Black Canary asks, trailing quickly behind him.

Green Arrow turned around and venomously spat, "Artemis's mother died two days ago."

That statement also caught the attention of Batman and also followed Green Arrow and Black Canary out the door without saying anything to the rest of the League.

Superman contemplated whether he should continue the meeting or not.

"Since they left, can we just cancel the meeting? I'm really hungry."


	3. Chapter 3

_____As always, thanks for the reviews, favs and alerts. Um. I'm sorry for not posting a new chapter last week even though I have eight other chapters written out. But updates will be quicker now. I think. c: This is a short chapter. ENJOY!_

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_Chapter 3: Artemis Wayne  
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"You _want_ to take legal guardianship over me?"

Artemis incredulously stared at the Bruce Wayne before her. She must be hearing the billionaire wrong. Maybe staying at the Gordon residence for a week and secluding herself from the world made her crazy. Like, why the hell does Bruce Wayne want to be her guardian? And why she should she let some crazy billionaire take her in?

If anything, it would've made more sense for her 'Uncle' Oliver Queen to adopt her but he has his hands full with twins full of emo-ness and adding her to the mix wouldn't do good on the man. She would literally run away from the Queen Mansion if she were to move in.

Then again, how would Bruce Wayne would adopt her though? Isn't she her _dad_ still her guardian? Unless, her mother divorced him and received full custody of her… but that was mostly unlikely because she would have heard from her mom first hand and wouldn't keep it a secret from her own daughter.

Artemis shot her Uncle a look of 'is he crazy?'

Oliver Queen chuckled as he scratched the back of his head and then pointed at the man behind the mahogany desk. "Artemis, Bruce Wayne is also Batman."

"Oh." She blinks. Her mind goes blank.

Bruce Wayne equals Batman. Batman equals Bruce Wayne. Robin equals Richard 'Dick' Grayson, a.k.a that little troll that took a picture with her on her first day at school?

Oh. Hell. No.

"So, you're the Batman." Artemis pointedly repeated slowly. Her mind is still not processing the information just yet, except for the little known fact that Dick Grayson is Robin. And she suddenly felt like wanting to maim the young boy. She lowered her head, facing the nice vintage carpet and wondered if she could maim him without the Batman noticing it. Her face darkens; suddenly thinking how, where and when to maim the boy.

"Artemis, are you alright?" Oliver uneasily inquired, wondering what was going on in her mind.

The blonde lifted her head, with a slight grin on her face and let out a chuckle. "Of course, I'm alright!" _Shit. I am not alright. Why does he want to adopt me? Does he know? _And then there was the case of Batman. She's uneasy about the whole thing right now and couldn't help but wonder why he wants to adopt her.

"Are you ok with the idea of wanting to adopt you?" Bruce Wayne finally spoke up which startled the blonde girl slightly.

'I… Why— What I'm not piecing together here is why would _you_ want to take me in? I mean, you should know our past encounter." Artemis could remember it clearly now. It was around her 8th mission and she was around eight years old that time. The time was also the first time she encountered Batman. She was surprised that Batman and Green Arrow approached her to invite her to join the team; fully aware of her past and how things went down when she and bats went down the first time she met him. Then again, that was the first and last time she met Batman on the other side of justice.

Bruce's calm demeanor never wavered. "That is all in the past, Artemis. You have proven your loyalty to the team, to me, and to you uncle."

"That's his saying that he trusts you." Oliver cuts in, re-phrasing whatever Bruce just said. He knew that his niece and Batman had met under different circumstances before. For the past eleven years, Paula Brooks had asked him to look for her daughter, when she had been taken into jail and after she found out her husband had taken her somewhere. He did it as a favor for her since they used to be quite acquainted with each other back in the old days, but that was all in the past. He also recruited Batman into this since the he was good at finding people.

It took them four years to finally find her. Batman told Oliver about his encounter with the young Artemis on the other side, little Artemis, a stone-cold assassin working for Ra's al Ghul. From what Batman told him, Artemis also saved him from that night.

"_She can still be save, Green Arrow."_

Another six years past and both vigilantes met the teenage Artemis in Gotham living with her mother. Oliver was just glad that she was able to save herself from the life of an assassin.

Oliver couldn't help but smile at the fond memory when he first met her that time in Gotham. He still couldn't forget it. He introduced himself as her godfather (because Paula had listed him one) and insisted her to call him Uncle. After that night, both of them grew close as niece and uncle and slowly Artemis told him her life story how she got into the life of an assassin and how her father just abandoned her.

It would be more understandable for him to take in his niece, but Gotham is her home and he didn't want to take her away from here.

"I'm sorry Artemis. I know I should be the one taking you in, but I didn't want to take Gotham away from you. This is your home, your birthplace. I don't you would adjust well back in my manor with the twins right now." Oliver explained hoping she would understand. It wasn't like he didn't want to take her in, he just couldn't.

Artemis sighed in response. "I know the Harpers are draining you emotionally and no need for the apology Uncle Ollie. Even if you have taken me in, I would still go back to Gotham no matter what." She grinned at him. "Besides, Roy and Dane have too much melodramatic drama going on that I do not want to get involved." Oliver snorted and ruffled her hair.

Then she turns her attention to the man behind the desk. "I'll take up on your offer, Mr. Wayne. But— how is it you are able to adopt me when my dad is still alive?"

"Actually, after you joined the team, Paula petitioned for full custody." Bruce clarifies. He stood up and walks toward the blondes. "And please call me Bruce."

Suddenly, the door to the Bruce Wayne's office revealed Dick Grayson with a huge grin. "Artemis, you're officially a Wayne!" He slithered his hands around her waist and ignoring the look from Queen as he did so. "So, are you going to be Artemis Crock-Wayne or just Artemis Wayne?"

Artemis rolled her eyes, wondering why Dick is getting all touchy feely now. But that was a good question though. Ever since she got out from her assassin life, she wanted to change her last name for quite a while, but she never got around it. Her sister changed hers right after mom was thrown into jail. And Artemis _Nguyen_ just sounds weird to her, even with the whole name combination. Though, she knew that she only kept the last name because she is a spitting image of her father.

"I think—" She pauses, wondering if her dad would track her down and question her about her name. "I think I'll be Artemis Wayne." Whatever, it's not like he's going care.

Bruce cracked a smile at that and placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. "Welcome to the family, Artemis."

Dick grinned at the blonde and said, "Yeah, welcome to the family. Now, c'mon, you have meet Jason!" He was already dragging her out of the room just as Bruce announced that he'll get the adoption paper going.

"Who's Jason?"

"You'll see."


	4. Chapter 4

_As always, thanks for the reviews, favs and alerts!  
_

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_Chapter 4: __Of Childhood and Regrets_  


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Artemis sighed, finally setting the last piece of folded clothing into her drawer and closed it. She stared at her huge walk-in closet and realized how much empty space there is. And she could hear Bruce's echoing words in her head about credit cards and how it's ok to spend _anything_ with it. She… is hesitant about using other people's money since she liked to spend her own money and didn't like the idea of using someone's money.

But, her two best friends, Bette and Barbara had already set up a shopping trip to the mall this Friday and she knew they would force her to buy new clothes. And she could imagine Zatanna already planning a shopping trip back at New York.

Then there's the case of her—she guessed—little brother. Since she's the second eldest of the Wayne sibling dynamic (by what Dick had told her, Jason is a year older than her), this made Dick the last child and Jason the eldest. And ever since she moved to the Wayne manor she hasn't met Jason yet.

And _ohmygod_ is it weird to have Dick getting all flirty and touchy with her, now that they were siblings? Would Bruce even approve of incest in the family even though they weren't even related? Sure, she kind of admits that kiss—impulse kiss she likes to call it with Dick; it was nice, even though they didn't even go that far. Still, she's not interested in the relationship department just yet and if anything, Dick doesn't even look boyfriend material for her _(yet)._

Artemis sighed again and sat down on her newly king sized bed. Not that she even needed that much space. It was a Sunday afternoon; she already had lunch with Dick while Bruce went out to get the adoption papers going. After lunch, Dick went out to a meeting with his mathletes and Artemis stayed behind to finish unpacking. And it took her almost four hours to unpack everything. Now that she was done, she didn't know what to do.

The blonde stared at her reflection across the room. She didn't realized how much she had changed during the course from last year before she joined the team. She always wondered sometimes—what if she had never joined the team? Would she join her father and the League of the Shadows again? She always tries so hard to change her ways, her lifestyle because she didn't want to kill. She didn't want to be an assassin anymore.

But ever since she became Green Arrow's protégé, the feel of the bow felt quite different to her. The weapon she grew up with and trained all her life felt foreign because she has been taught to kill with it; to make her enemies suffer as her arrow puncture a vital part.

And re-learning to use the bow—the nice, punctual way without killing the criminals as Green Arrow had put it—she realized that she has a slower reaction rate when to responding to danger or even to shoot. She would need 2.9 seconds to concentrate and tell herself not to kill before her fingers let the arrow go.

Even so, she doesn't care about how many seconds it takes her to make her shot. She just didn't want to go back to the life of being an assassin.

Artemis snapped out of her thoughts and decided to head down to the living room. And for the first time she moved to the Wayne Manor, she was alone. In the big fucking mansion. And she doesn't even know her way around here yet.

"Shit," She mumbled, looking around blindly looking at hallways before her. Artemis should've asked Bruce for a map or something. Or maybe they should have a map posted in every corner of the hallway to show where they were at because this is ridiculous.

Well, she might as well peek at every room like a curious kitten she is. Because she is lost and she might as well know every corner of the mansion.

First, she headed left and opened the first door on the right. Empty. Guest room. Then to the left. Same. And to the other 10 other rooms in this hallway are the same.

_Great job, Artemis. I just wasted 10 minutes of my life._ Artemis sourly thought as she begins to think that this was a bad idea from the start. It was going to take her hours before she even makes it downstairs.

She turned around to go the other hallway and again, checked every room and it all ended up being the same as the other hallway. Eventually, she went to the other hallway and realized she didn't even know where her room is at anymore!

Well this is great. Artemis stood in the middle of hallway, suddenly feeling like crying because she can't even figure out where the stairs were at. When she turned to the hallway again and checked every room again, they were all the same but one.

When she slowly entered the room and flicked the light switched on, she first noticed the band posters plastered on the wall. _Hmm. This guy has good taste in music._

Artemis walked around the room, inspecting every little thing and when she found photo frames on the table, she couldn't help but think the little boy in the picture seemed so familiar. She gazed at the photo frames for a while until she heard a sharp demanding voice.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Artemis whirled around and her eyes landed on the gun pointing at her. Uh… wasn't Batman against using guns or something?

"Hey, I'm Artemis Crock—I mean Wayne I guess." Artemis replied, with her hands up in the air. She hoped this guy wasn't a burglar or something. "Just got adopted two days ago." She watched the guy's face going from sheer anger to indifferent. After a minute or so after staring at the guy, she realized that he looks really familiar.

Out of the blue, the guy lowered his gun and laughed crazily. "What a small world, 'Mis."

Then flashes of the same young boy appeared in her mind during her childhood back at her old home and realized this was, "Jay? Jason Todd?"

"The one and only, 'Mis." Jason grinned as he spread out his arms. "So what brings you into my room and snooping around?"

Artemis glared at her childhood friend. "Shut up. I got lost and found your room. Still, who knew the coolest older brother as Dick put it was you?" She snickered, ignoring the glare from the older boy.

"I am the coolest brother ever and coolest neighbor to you too."

"You tried to set my hair on my fire, you asshole."

"But I didn't right? Your hair is still full and intact on your head, so calm your tits."

Artemis rolled her eyes at him and watched as the eldest made his way to his bed and sat on it. This is Jason Todd; childhood friend; old neighbor. She never knew whatever became of him after she heard that his mother had died of an overdose. After hearing that news, her father had already shipped her off to the Shadows the next day. "Jason, what… happen to you?"

Jason ran his hand through his hair before replying, "Well, after my mom died, I tried to make a living of my own in the streets until Batman found me stealing his tires off of his Batmobile." He grinned widely as if he was proud that he even done it in the first place.

"So that's how you became the first Robin and a Wayne?"

"Yes, more or less. I guess." He heaved a sigh and Artemis took note that there was a story behind that. She'll have to ask later. "What's your story, 'Mis? What happened to your family? How did Bruce found you?"

Artemis sighed before leaning back against the seat and crossed her arms. And she had told him everything two days prior. Who knew that her father could kill his own wife in cold blood just because he couldn't get his baby girl to his side? It was too much to handle and with the fact that her mother will unconditionally love her father. And she hates that. Jade didn't take the news well and was ready to hunt down the very man who called their father.

Jason's face contorted into a frown. Back in the old days, Jason had spent a lot of time over at the Crock residence and Artemis knew he did once look up to her father, as an aspiring figure and a father figure. But she wondered how he was feeling? The one aspiring figure and father figure that Jason looked up to was a criminal and he didn't know.

"I'm sorry for your loss." He mumbled; looking down on the floor and the frown still sketched on his face.

Artemis nodded; tears suddenly welled up in the corner of her eyes. Just thinking about the past, the old days where they were kids and they had nothing to worry about; it welled up so many emotions. And she dearly missed it. Even if Jason wasn't related by blood, she was glad that he became part of the family; even if they were dysfunctional.

But most of all she was glad to have Jason back in her life. It was really a small world to even think they would ever see each other again.

.

Artemis frowned as Roy hauled his red bow across the room as it crashed into a set of arrows and tables. It had only been a two weeks since she has begun training Roy. And he was so frustrating to work with!

Sure at first, she thought having two Roy's would be awesome because more the merrier right? Because two Roy's wasn't bad to look at. But this… this _Roy_ is giving off too much of his _angroy_ if you could get what she means. Roy was too angry, quick to give up, and thinking that he would re-learn his bow in an instant. Even Dane was having a rough time dealing with Roy since they haven't quite past the whole 'clone-original' problem.

And Artemis wondered if Roy was angry something entirely different.

"I'm no Dinah but," Artemis began, wondering how the red-head would re-act with the question. "But, are you angry about something other than the whole issue with re-learning the bow?"

Roy whirled around with a frustrated look. And at that moment, Artemis knew that the red-head was going to have a bitch fit. What did she get herself into?

She heard a big sigh from the older boy and watched him sat down on the mat. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm giving you a hard time."

Oh. So, he isn't going to have a bitch fit?

"I'm just having a hard time adjusting to this prosthetic arm. It's hard to get used to and…" Roy finally looks up and stares into her eyes. Artemis felt she was in a trance; watching his chartreuse eyes lighting up with different emotions. "The bow doesn't feel the same to me anymore. I don't feel connected with it anymore like it's completely foreign to me."

Artemis continued to watch him; she knew how he felt. She heaved a sigh and rubbed her temples. Like she said earlier, she isn't Dinah and she was really bad at comforting people. "I—I know how you feel about the whole the bow feeling foreign. I grew up—well trained to use the bow with my whole life and I learned it on the basis to kill people. But when I started the whole hero business, I had to re-learn the bow quite a bit. My bow felt different in my hands because this whole time, I was trained to kill with it and now I'm using to save people. I'm getting there to getting used to the feeling."

Roy didn't react to her reply, and she wondered if he was even listening at all. Ugh. The actual moment when she gives a somewhat good advice, he wasn't even listening.

"At least you still have some hope. It's hard to adjust with my arm and if all things fail, I should just learn how to use another weapon." He replies with a serious look on his face.

Artemis snorted and joked, "Like a gun? Maybe you could go after the board of Cadmus. Rocket launch their ass for taking three years of your life and your arm."

"Do you know how to shoot a RPG?"

"Of course; it was protocol to learn firearms back at the Shadows."

"Teach me those instead."

Artemis gave Roy an incredulous look. She was seriously joking about learning firearms and taking revenge. And the look of determination on his face, it was clear that Roy didn't think she was joking. "No way, Roy. Oliver would kill me."

Roy finally stood up and he approached the blonde. "He doesn't have to know."

She frowned wondering if it would be a bad idea to teach him firearms. It was bad enough that Roy looked determined to learn firearms rather than re-learning to use his bow. Without a thought, she replied, "Fine, but you still have to learn the bow."

The red-head smirked at her and Artemis really hoped she wasn't going to regret this.


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5: __Changing Names_  


* * *

A month has passed since her mother passed away in an unfortunate way.

And Artemis managed to survive a bunch of family drama (Sportsmaster literally stalked her down to talk about her new last name), her mother's funeral which was a week ago and trying to get the Harpers to get used to each other's presence. Uncle Ollie is doing a good job with both of them.

Then there was the case of Roy and his determination to learn firearms instead of bow and arrows. Well he is still learning the bow and arrow from Dane and her, but Artemis truly think that he wasn't paying attention to the lessons. She could see it in his eyes. He had given the bow and arrow completely up. He was done with it. To make matters worse, Dane could see it in his eyes and is getting highly suspicious where Artemis takes Roy for their weekly training.

She was happy that the Harpers at least consider themselves as twins. Artemis was surprised that Roy mentioned it to her one day during training and she wondered if he's over the whole 'clone-original'. Now that they consider themselves twins, it seemed that Roy declared Dane the eldest twin because he looks more fit and bigger than he is. Not even Oliver and Dinah to tell them apart since they have identical haircuts and when they were wearing civilian clothing. Even Artemis had a hard time too.

It was nice they had established a somewhat brotherly bond. It was weirder that she and Dane were getting along fine when last year it was all about insulting each other and accusing on Dane's part. But with Roy, she got along with him just fine. He was way mellow than his older twin.

Artemis sighed and stared at the white walls of her room. It has been a long time since she slept in her room because right after school, she would immediately go straight to the Queen Manor and train with Roy. Sometimes, she would be so tired; she'd end spending a night over there.

Even during the first week of being adopted, she practically slept over at Bette's house with Barbara for that week. Of course, she still came over to hang out with Dick and Jason, but all they want to do is train and she already had enough of that from Roy. Then the week after that, she and Zatanna had girl's night out three days in a row.

And then there was the Queen family. Right after school, she would go straight to the manor, train Roy to get his archery skills back (and firearms) and getting both Harpers to socialize with each other. Artemis didn't know how they establish their brotherly bond, but after that, they began telling people they were identical twins.

With all that going on, she still managed to bond with Bruce. They even had a night together where they talked about their parents over hot cocoa which he made. It was a nice talk and she now knew why this multi-billionaire decided to take vigilante life as Batman.

She even managed to talk with Jason more because she still couldn't believe that he was here. Even so, Jason was still busy taking missions overseas for Batman. Then there was the case of a little troll name Dick Grayson.

Artemis swore that she sees Dick everywhere like in class (isn't he supposed to be a freshman?), during her way to the zeta beam (she's always home first before Dick because of his mathletes meeting) and in the hallways of the manor (her room is right across from his).

She snorted thinking Dick had set her room to be across from his. Yet, at the same time, she felt bad because she hasn't quite spent time with Dick outside from school or even under their guise as vigilantes.

_I wonder if Dick is jealous that I spend more time with the Harpers than him. _Artemis thought amusingly.

She glanced at the clock on the side and sighed. It was way too early to sleep. Maybe she could ask Batman if she can go patrol with them. She never had the chance to patrol with the family, but she wondered if the Bats will let her patrol as Artemis? Then again, the media would be wondering why Green Arrow's protégé is doing in Gotham.

She got slowly from her bed and trotted out the door. With the help of Dick, she finally remembered the hallways of the Manor which now prevents her from getting loss. Thank God. First thing she headed to the Batcave. That's where most of the boys spend most of their time.

By the time she arrived at the cave, she was surprised to see the Red Hood in the cave. Usually, Jason would have some mission that would take him the whole weekend to finish. Robin and Batman were already in costume and Artemis couldn't help but feel out of place.

"All of you guys are going to patrol?" She asked with her eyebrows up and her arms folded.

Batman whirled his chair around and calmly clarifies, "Yes. All of _us_ are going to patrol tonight."

Artemis blinked; clearly missing the indication in his words. Suddenly Robin slithered an arm around her waist and she noticed that he had gotten slightly taller. When the hell did that happen? She looked over at the Red Hood and she glared in reply to his smirk.

"I can't wait to see you in that outfit." Robin piped up, grinning innocently at her.

Artemis questionably stares at him before Alfred seemingly came out of nowhere holding a costume on hand and handing it to the blonde.

Wait, Batman did say 'all of us' are going to patrol right? She held the costume confusingly before glancing at Batman. "Oh." _Oh fuck yeah! _

"Go on; try it, 'Mis." Red Hood urged with a smirk on his face. What the hell is he smirking about?

_12 minutes later…_

After a few struggles, a few complaining here and there, she was forced to try it on. The costume was way too similar to Batman's outfit except the outfit had room for her boobs, her boots, gloves and the inside color of her cape was gold and her cowl showed her eyes instead of lenses covering it. Her Bat sigil was gold also.

This was too much gold for her. Even with her hair flowing everywhere.

Artemis—Batgirl frowned, "I feel naked without my bow. This cape isn't exactly helping me. " She flaunts around with her cape, gaping that it too was gold. How much gold color is in this outfit?

"I believe it suits you well, Miss Artemis." Alfred piped up.

"Yeah, you look good, Batgirl." Robin complimented.

Batgirl groaned as she looked at herself in the mirror. It was so weird wearing an outfit with a cape. She turned to the Bats. "Can I take my bow at least?"

Batman shook his head and offered an explanation, "We don't want the media thinking Artemis is also Batgirl in Gotham with the same green bow. You may take something else as a weapon with you."

Batgirl had to give that some thought. Back at the shadows she was not only trained with the bow but with other weapons as well. Though she mostly prefer long-ranged weapons rather than short-ranged. And most of the weapons that she came up were mostly swords and knives. Even though she prefers long-ranged weapons, her second best weapon for her was a sword. Still, she was pretty sure she was rusty with the sword. Batgirl sighed and decided to back out from using any weapons. Well at least she still has the batarang.

"Is 'Mis permanently staying as Batgirl?" Red Hood inquired at Batman.

He shook his head. "No. In Gotham, she is. Outside of Gotham, she is Artemis, Green Arrow's partner.

Batgirl let out a loud groan when he mentioned her Uncle's hero name. "Uncle Ollie is so going to be mad about this." She received questioning glances from the boys. "He wants me to chance my name to Yellow or Gold Arrow since Dane is Red Arrow and Roy well I don't know what he is yet. Green Arrow wants to start to have an 'Arrow Family' with every hero takes in has to have an Arrow in their name." She rolled her eyes at a certain memory during the first time Green Arrow had announced it.

Then she looked at her outfit again. "No wonder half of this outfit is gold. Must be a sign." She sneered ignoring the giggles from Robin.

.

_Ring~ _

Artemis groaned and slowly moved to the other of her bed. This is way too early for her.

_Ring~ Ring~ _

Seriously, who is calling her at—she opened one eye and took a peek at the clock beside her—_8:40? _ She closed her eye again, hoping, wishing, that her phone would shut up because she needs her damn sleep. After that long ass patrol at Gotham and trying to get use to fighting without her bow is awkward and weird. And she also has to get used to the grappling hook. (She almost fell last night and luckily Batmobile saved her ass)

_Ring! Ring! Ringggggg! _

Artemis let out a few curses as she sat up annoyed by the constant ringing from her phone. Who the hell would be calling her in this hour?!

When she read the caller ID, she wondered how mad her uncle would be if she just send him to voicemail?

_He'll just keep calling me…_ Artemis thought annoyed before pressing the answer button on her phone.

"Hey Uncle Ollie,"

"Artemis! Artemis! Get to my Manor right now!"

"Uh… for… what?" Artemis felt the sudden rush of panic coursing through her body. Did he found out what she has been teaching Roy lately? She had to admit that she was horrified to find the Roy is doing better with firearms than his old weapon. The guy even has better aim than her with the gun!

"Just get over here ASAP! It's a _family_ _emergency_." With that she heard a click. Artemis blinked. A family emergency? She stared at her phone for a couple of seconds before putting it down and heading to the bathroom to do her usual freshen up. A few minutes later, she went to her closet and put on some casual clothes.

As soon she sauntered out of her room, the fresh pancakes filled her nostrils and she felt her stomach growling. She grinned to herself. Artemis hasn't had pancakes ever since her mother was thrown in jail. Even when she was living with her, she never had pancakes ever again because it was the first and last time she ate pancakes with her family. Her whole entire family. And her heart aches because as a little kid, all she wanted her family to be reunited again like the old times. But that wonderland is gone.

When she entered the kitchen, she greeted the butler. "Hey, Alfred. That smells good!"

"Miss Artemis, it is good to see you in the morning. Did you get enough sleep?" Alfred inquired as he gently laid a plate in front of her with two warmly fresh pancakes.

Artemis groaned in reply. "Not really. Uncle Ollie called me to come over to this Manor ASAP." She fiddled with her fork before stabbing it into the fresh warm pancake and taking a bite of it. Her eyes widen when her taste buds exploding in flavors that she never knew existed. How could a pancake be this damn good? "Alfred, this is the best pancake I have ever eaten in my life." She took another bite.

Alfred seemed proud at the statement and smiled. "I am glad that you're enjoying the pancakes, Miss Artemis."

"Just call me Artemis, Alfred. Calling me 'Miss' sounds kind of weird."

"I'm afraid I can't, Miss Artemis." He smiled again at the scowl on her face.

Before Artemis could retort, the brothers entered the scene with a silly grin plastered on their face.

"I thought you weren't a morning person, 'Mis." Jason teasingly says before grabbing a plate and sat across from her. Dick did the same but sat right next to her.

Artemis rolled her eyes. "I'm not. I have to go to the Queens Manor, in a few. Uncle Ollie is freaking out over something." And she knew in the back of her mind she knew what. She was pretty sure her new persona 'Batgirl' is already in the news and newspapers.

"I'm coming with you." Dick announced with a grin.

"Me too. I need to talk with Harper." Jason also announced between muffled bites. He received questioning glances from his siblings and simply ignored them. He didn't indicate which Harper though.

Artemis narrowed her gray pearls at the boys. "Fine."

.

"You're crazy!"

Oliver's face contorted into a pouting face and next to him Dinah groaned and shook her head. "Why not? It's a good name!"

"I am not changing my name to Gold Arrow. That sounds lame!" Artemis retorted, crossing her arms and glaring at her crazy Uncle. She knew this was coming since last night when she first donned Batgirl.

"C'mon! You joined the Batfamily as Batgirl. You should at least change your name to Gold Arrow. So we can become _the Arrow_s."

Artemis blinked, saying in her head that sounded even lamer. "I think Artemis should be initiated into the Arrow family by dressing up as _Speedy._" Roy suggests peevishly, his chartreuse orbs dancing in amusement.

At that moment, she really wanted to punch the red head in the face. "Shut up!" She hissed, glaring at him. "I already did that and I'm done with that."

"Well it's not a true initiation into '_the Arrows'_ unless you willingly wore the Speedy outfit." Dane cuts in, his smirk growing in size.

Now she felt like the whole Arrow family was against her. She glanced at her mentor, Dinah and she got the look, 'Just agree until Oliver gets over the whole _the Arrows_ thing.' Then she felt someone wrapping its arm around her neck and she felt the hot breathe against her ear. She shivered when Roy whispered,

"Look, Oliver forced me to change mine to _Purple_ _Arrow. _Just agree to it and I guarantee that he'll be over it within a week."

Artemis turned her eyes to look at Roy to see if there was any indication of any lying. Because she was really good at reading people's faces. She sighed heavily and agreed changing her name to Gold Arrow. Oliver screamed out a yes.

He better be over this within a goddamn week.

* * *

_Next week; Robin and Batgirl patrolling together. Finally some Traught interactions. And 9 year old Tim Drake!? The story will progress even faster. I'm sorry I almost didn't update for almost three/four weeks. I'm still in the process of re-writing the chapter that are currently written. I just lost... my muse with this story so uh yeah. And I wanted to update before school starts next week :c _Reviews are appreciated~ c:

Guest 8/8/12: Roy is able to use the bow because of his prosthetic arm. So yeah.

And thank you for everyone else for all the reviews, favs and follows! I love you guys!


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6: __Recollection_  


* * *

"I'm surprised it's quiet tonight." Batgirl mused. It has been hours since they first landed on the roof of some tall as building, overlooking the city on top of the gargoyle. They've been listening to the radio scanner for anything tonight, but just as she mentioned earlier: it's a quiet night at Gotham.

Next to her, Robin sighed again and she knew that the boy had been anticipating for any action tonight. Besides, Batman hasn't assigned any missions to the team lately for the past two weeks and the rest of the team were getting restless.

She heard a sharp click from Robin and murmured under his breath, "There goes any action tonight."

Tonight was the only night that she and Robin was the only Bat family in town. Batman is stuck at a meeting with the Justice League while the Red Hood was off somewhere outside of town.

"Take a picture; it'll last longer."

Batgirl snapped out of her thoughts and her eyes landed on Robin with huge smirk on his face. She scowled at him and she didn't realize that she had been staring at his ass. Jeez. She goes thinking about how she and Robin were alone for patrol and she was unconsciously staring at Robin's ass.

She amazes herself sometimes.

"Please tell me that Kid Idiot hasn't been rubbing off on you has he?"

Robin snorted, "Please, I'm way classier than he is."

"Oh really?" She smirked, telling herself in the back of her mind that she was so going to tell Wally about this.

"You know I am, Art." He flashed a smirked back.

"I really don't know, Rob." She shrugs. "I've met way classier guys than you."

Robin faked a pain expression. "Ow. No need to hit that low with my self-esteem."

Batgirl rolled her eyes at him before setting her eyes down on the city. Then she looked up at the Gotham skies, it was a clear night tonight as the luminescent moon lit up the city. "So tell me, how did Batman find you?" She was curious about this ever since she was adopted into the family. She knew Jason's reason. She never got to ask Dick though.

The Boy Wonder hummed for a second before coming up with a compromise, "I'll tell you, if you tell me about you."

"You already know how Batman took me in, stupid." She sneered, narrowing her eyes at him.

He laughed in response. "I meant about your childhood…"

Batgirl paused. She thought it over. There were a million and one reasons why she never talked about her childhood.

"But, it's ok if you don't want—"

"It's fine."

From there, Robin grinned at her and began the tale of Richard Grayson and his family. His family was the famous the Flying Grayson's from Haly Circus—

"Wait, the same Haly Circus during that one mission?" Batgirl automatically connected the dots. Why Robin was so hell bent on clearing the circus's name and why she saw him staring constantly at the Flying Grayson's poster.

"Yup. The same one."

And he continued on with his story, re-telling how his days at the circus were the best days of his life, until the first performance night at Gotham. From the moment when he heard about a boss crime name Zucco was trying to extort money from the circus and to the worst night of his life when he watched his family fall in a terrible death.

Batgirl didn't know what to say. It must've been traumatizing to watch your own loved ones to die in front of you; then again, she can't seem to relate. And the only thing she could say was— "I'm sorry about your family."

Robin shook his head. He continued how Bruce approached him the same night and took him in. And how Robin was born and eventually, "I did bring Zucco to justice."

"That was an interesting tale. Batman does have a thing for taking in orphans." Batgirl mused, thinking how Bruce Wayne had offered her to take her in after the death of her mother.

"So, about that childhood story, 'Mis?" Robin says all eyes on her.

She could only sigh. She started with when her mother was sent to jail for a crime she and her husband did. But she took the fall. Artemis at that point was four. She could barely remember her mom at that childhood. Her sister left after a year. At that point, her father thought it was time to introduce her to his world; the world of crime. He trained her for a year before he dumped her at the League of Shadows.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. I didn't find out later that Talia had taken interested in me and my skills as a young child."

"Talia?! You were working under Talia al Ghul?"

Batgirl continued to tell her tale to Robin. She was trained by Talia and had gained her archery skills from another master bowman. It was her favorite weapon of choice, second to swords and knives. Three years later, when she was eight, she was old enough to go on to mission for the Shadows.

"It wasn't until around my 8th mission that I bumped into Batman."

Robin could only reply with an incredulous look. Obviously, that little piece of information, he wasn't aware of it. "What kind of mission?"

Batgirl waved her hand dismissively. "It was a mission somewhere in Siberia. I received a hit on this doctor lady. I can't remember, but Batman was there. Obviously, Batman took me down and started interrogating me." From there, she told Robin about how one of the Shadow Operatives had taken in her out from Batman's hold and that was her first and last mission that she ever failed.

When she was around nine; her father came back. Apparently both of them had a mission at Gotham and they were assigned together; the dynamic duo of the Crocks.

"Batman and Robin's dynamic duo is better than yours."

"Robin, just shut up and listen."

Oh—where was she? Right— so her and her father had a mission at Gotham. First, her dad wanted to some of his business first. It was visit some old friend of his. Then after that night, she completed the mission and went back to the Shadows base.

"Wait! You're skipping parts. What was that mission you completed?"

Batgirl looked away; wondering if she should tell him what she had done. It was a topic she didn't like talking and she never once told her mother what she'd done. She the bit her lower lip, still contemplating whether to tell him.

She trusted him to keep a secret. "I… Sportsmaster and I apprehended one of the men that made my mom take the fall for her and for Sportsmaster. I avenged my mom by killing the guy.

"'Mis… I—"

"I never told my mom though." Batgirl miserably replied, wondering if she should have told her before she died. She continued on with her story.

Artemis was around fourteen when she heard that her mother was getting out of jail. It was also around the time, when she also questioned her future as an assassin. Did she want to pursue it or not? She was glad that Talia didn't pick up on that, but she was glad that she noticed her little assassin wanted to go back to Gotham to see her mom. Talia had let her leave the Shadows.

"Talia actually helped you to get out?"

"Well, actually I just left. I left a note, escaped, made it to Gotham in three days. After that I've been living with my mom. I didn't know her that well, but that's why I wanted to live with her. I told her what I did with my father, but I didn't tell her everything. I don't think she wants to know her eight year old daughter was killing people like it was nothing."

"'Mis…"

There was a mere silence between them. Artemis had basically told him her life story because she trusted him. Their eyes met for a moment, she could clearly see sadness in his eyes.

"What are you looking sad for, Boy Wonder?" Batgirl scoffed, grinning at him.

Before Robin could reply, the radio scanner went off, something about a robbery at a local store. He grinned back, "Well, looks like we're actually getting some action tonight."

And she watched the boy jumped down the sky scraper and heard the faint noise of his grappling hook going off. Batgirl stood on the edge of the gargoyle's head. She could never get used to this.

.

"Hey, sorry, I'm late." Artemis greeted her best friends as she sat down at an empty seat on the booth. "_He _actually let me take a night off." There was a hint of disbelief in her tone. She really thought it would be hard to convince Bruce to give her a night off.

Bette frowned at the blonde, taking in how exhausted she looked. She could actually see eye bags forming under her eyes and Artemis was starting to show some wrinkles on her face. "It's good thing he let you have the night off. I think I see some wrinkles forming, Artie."

Artemis glared at the blonde. "Shut up!" She hissed. She looked away and stared at her reflection at the window, checking for any wrinkles. She doesn't have any wrinkles right?

"Yeah, you look you're about to pass out any time soon." Barbara said worriedly and added that Artemis was not forming any wrinkles.

Both Bette and Barbara had figured out Artemis's superhero identity since it wasn't that hard to distinguish Artemis's and Artemis Wayne's ponytail. It was basically the same and who wouldn't recognize that fluff of yellow hair?

_"Really your hero name is Artemis? I'm surprised someone hasn't figured you out yet." Bette snickered along with Barbara. _

After her best friends deduced her hero identity, she spilled everything, from beginning to the end. How she was a little assassin, to ditching the assassin gig, to the part where she was officially part of the team, to where she is now. Though she did leave out the information about Wayne's hero identity though. Like they would believe an airhead billionaire is the Batman.

Artemis called out the waiter to order some sandwich and a soda. "I'm so tired. I have too many personas to play. Here in Gotham, I'm Batgirl, and then I'm Gold Arrow when I'm outside of Gotham, with the team or with GA. When I'm at school, I'm Artemis Wayne, the new charity case that Bruce Wayne took in." She groaned loudly as she rolled down on her seat.

She was mentally and physically drained.

Could she keep up with the personas for long? She really did the whole Batgirl getup, but it was still hard for to adjust without using any weapon, like her bow. She was offered to use a weapon, but she doesn't even know any non-lethal weapons. She felt naked and not in a good way.

"Wait. Wait." Bette piped up, after taking a bite of her food. "GA is still going with _the Arrows_ idea?"

"Ugh, Yes! Stupid Purple Arrow, he told me that he was going to get over with within a week! He didn't! He enjoyed it even more! It's been four months!" Artemis complained, still pissed off that her mentor didn't get tired of it. She barely survived the first week, after GA had announced their new names and well, Kid Flash is still making fun of her name especially Roy.

Barbara shook her head and said, "I still don't understand how Purple Arrow… could be Purple Arrow. The guy wears nothing but red, all red."

"It's because of that stupid hat he wears. You know that hat with the _purple arrow _on it." Artemis explained. She finally took a bite of her sandwich.

"I think it's weird that you're new hero name is Gold Arrow when your outfit consists nothing but green." Bette points out with a laugh.

The archer snorted, "Please—I'm not going to prance around in a bright ass yellow outfit. My hair is 'gold' enough you know?"

Barbara shook her head. "No. No. Your hair is more on the yellow blonde side. You should've called yourself Yellow Arrow."

"No way! Gold Arrow sounds already majestic to me." Artemis retorted.

Bette laughed at that. "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."

"I think it would be funny to see you guys donning the Batgirl suit." Artemis suggested, musing how it would turn out if that were to happen. "I mean Barbara would have to get a blonde wig to pose as myself. Bette would—"

"Flirt with the Robins all night long." The red head piped up, laughing at her best friend.

"HEY. I would so not." Bette 'harrumphed' while ignoring the laughs from her best friends.

"Don't deny it, Kane. We've seen you fan girl enough to know that you would so flirt with Robin!" Artemis added with a smirk.

They continued to tease Bette all night long.

"Oh look, you don't think they've been watching you?" Barbara pointed out the window where Batman and Robin were jumping rooftop to rooftop.

In the corner of Artemis's eyes, she saw a little boy carrying a huge professional camera at hand; following Batman and Robin. "I don't think they would want to listen to our conversation." She replied slowly, her eyes never taking off the little boy.

"What happened to the Red Hood?" Bette inquired curiously, still looking at Robin.

"He has a big school presentation tomorrow. He doesn't want to fail History." Artemis smirked to herself, still eyeing the little boy. Who knew a little boy was following Batman, the Robins and herself during patrol. She always knew a nagging feeling that they were being followed but never told Batman about it.

.

It was a week later that Batgirl was able to apprehend their little stalker. It was easy to out maneuver the kid especially since he was a kid and she was a trained assassin. She had to take matters to her own hand before the kid could get hurt by following them around constantly.

She didn't want to responsible for the kid's death and knew that he was following them the whole time. And she had to wonder if Batman ever noticed.

It was during after the robbery that she and Robin stopped and it was the last robbery they stopped before Red Hood had called in for help from Robin. Batgirl wasn't bothered that Red Hood had specifically asked for Robin; it must've involved some hacking.

As soon as Robin was out of sight, Batgirl disappeared back into one of the empty room, hiding in the darkness. In her line of sight, she saw a little kid, the very same kid she saw last week chasing after Robin. So, the kid likes Robin than Batgirl?

She grinned to herself, thinking how she would approach the kid. She admits that she isn't good with kids and thought up of different scenarios how she would talk to the child. Oh well, time to apprehend the little guy.

It didn't take that much time to capture the kid because being a trained assassin came in handy. Though, she thinks that she almost gave him a heart attack.

Artemis approached him from behind and quickly grabbed the back of his shirt and grappled up to the roof top. Once she set the kid down, she was surprised by the sudden look of awe written all over his face.

She coughed loudly, before kneeling on one knee and placed a hand on his tiny shoulder. "It's dangerous to be walking around here. Why won't I take you home to your parents and—" Artemis stopped abruptly when she heard the faint whisper from him. She blinked.

Maybe she heard it wrong?

"Um—"

"My—my parents are dead." He spoke again, clear and loud. "Pl-please don't send me back to the foster care."

Artemis was speechless. What else was she supposed to do? "What's your name?"

"Tim Drake."

_Holy shit! _This was—this is the kid, the heir to the Drake fortune who went missing and who knew that this kid had been living in the streets? Making up her mind, she decided to take the kid to the Batcave; of course, Batman wasn't amused by the guest he wasn't familiar with (yet).

"Batgirl, what is the meaning of this?" Batman glowered at the girl and the little boy. Though for some reason, instead of the little boy looking scared, he was in awe.

Batgirl pushed the kid forward. "This brat is the missing Drake Heir that went missing after the Joker killed his family. And Bruce, he figured out our identities as soon he figured out who really Dick was." She playfully eyed Robin who suddenly became uncomfortable. "Tim recognizes you from Haly Circus."

Red Hood glared at Robin. "I told you not to show off those stupid moves, Dickie."

It took some convincing to Bruce to take in the 9 year-old Tim Drake into the family. With a few manipulations and a little dose of Tim's innocent child like eyes, Bruce gave in eventually.

* * *

_Next chapter; It's the first time the Arrows goes to a mission together outside of their territory. Things go down fast. __"Tell me child, when will you stop pretending to be a hero?" _  


___I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Hehe last update of the month! Don't worry, Roy and Artemis won't be Purple Arrow or Gold Arrow for long. This is all for my amusement and all actually. And Roy's outfit is the same one he wears in RHATO. Stephanie Brown might be coming around soon... soon... soon and way later Damian. Anyways, Reviews are appreciated! c:_


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter 7: __A Small Favor _  


* * *

Artemis was completely exhausted. She had over exerted herself tonight and she didn't think a simple body guard mission would drain her out this much. Then again, the mission with the Arrows was supposed to be a simple _bodyguard_ mission. It turned into a hell quickly for her.

Half of the League of Shadows appeared; surrounded them and she had to beat down the Shadows for a path of escape though it wasn't easy. They had realized that the mission was a trap; the Doctor they were hired to protect set a trap for them, for her.

_"Guys, we have trouble." Dane announced, his eyes looking out the window. Roy quickly ran over by his side and cursed a set of words as he looked through the blinds. _

_Artemis peeked outside the window also and she was quite shocked to see the League of Shadows lining up outside. But she knew that the Shadows aren't this stupid to be seen by their enemies like this. The only time she ever seen the Shadows operatives lined up was either if Ra's himself was going to make an announcement or a harsh daily training exercise. _

_She cursed to herself when she realized this might be a training exercise and Artemis knew something was up with the Shadows when they started to appear Gotham whenever she patrolled as Batgirl. She didn't know why she didn't realize it sooner. _

_"We've been set up." The blonde arrow murmured. The twins whirled around as soon her soft whispers reached their ears. _

_"What? What are you talking about?" Roy demanded. _

_Artemis pointed out the window. "Do you really think the Shadows would show themselves like this to the enemies? Back then, usually when Shadow operatives are lined up like this, it usually means a training exercise." _

_Dane cocked an eyebrow. "A training exercise? Ra's al Ghul is setting us up for a training exercise?" _

_"Well maybe for me, since I was once their top operatives." She replied. Old memories came back rushing through her mind. She went through this exercise a lot of times and as time pass by, it grew easier and easier to kill them. Those weren't any simple Shadows. They were meant to die in the training exercise. "Besides, do you really think Dr. Toms here was able to steal a few vial samples from the Lazarus Pit?" _

_Dane shook his head. All night long he had been skeptical about accepting the mission. The mission began back at the warehouse where they all picked up the Dr. Toms and took him to his mansion. "This is probably one of the League's bases too." _

_"We're fucked." Roy said. "We need the League if we want to survive this." He pulled out his communicator. "Damn it, I can't get a signal." _

_"Sorry, kids. That what radio interference exist for." Dr. Toms appeared by the door; garbed in the usual Shadow outfit. _

_Artemis glanced out the window and the front lot of empty. She nodded at Dane who quickly subdued the fake doctor. Roy grabbed the chair and threw it to the window and he quickly shot a line across the front courtyard. _

_"Red, Purple, you guys go first. I'll hold them off." Gold ordered._

_Roy wanted to protest, but Dane shook his head. Both of the twins knew of her background with the League of Shadows. The older Harper knew that the blonde would get out of this alive; facing the Shadows was a way to face her past. He knew changing the blonde's mind was futile. _

_"We're going to try to contact the League." Dane said, as he lined up his bow on top of the line._

_"Don't get killed, Gold." Roy called out._

_Artemis nodded and she watched as the twins slide out of the mansion. She quickly turned her attention to the exploding door and the first few assassins entered. She hastily encountered them with fist-to-fist combat. _

_Assassins after assassins, they just kept coming. It wasn't long before she grew tired of the game. It would so much easier, so easy to take them out brutally. But she swore to herself that would never kill again. She won't go back to her old assassin ways. _

_She endured for another few minutes until the woman in charge came in to stop the fight. _

_"That's enough."_

_Artemis froze at the voice. She hasn't heard that voice ever since she was little, ever since she abandoned her for a life of a hero. _

_Talia al Ghul was staring right at her. "You still fight like a Master Assassin, the titled we have appointed to you when you were ten." She said proudly. It was something she liked to gloat. She was her mentor and Artemis had always seen her as a mother figure also. She had taught the blonde everything she needed to know about the world. "This fight would've been easier if you had killed them, Artemis." This was also the woman who had let her escape the Shadows. _

_Before the blonde could reply, from the shadows, Ra's al Ghul appeared next to his daughter with a disappointed expression sketched on his face. "You have proven enough times that you are still a Master Assassin even if you are doing the whole hero get-up." He said with a distasteful tone._

_"I've been watching you, child. The way you fight lately, the way you hold back as Batgirl and the way you easily miss the vital points of the body with your bow and arrow as Gold Arrow." Ra's continued. "Tell me child, when will you stop pretending to be a hero?" _

_Artemis was too stunned to reply and could only find herself gaping at Ra's. "I—What?" It seemed that it was hard to register whatever Ra's just said. She definitely knew she wasn't pretending to be a hero. She chose this. She wasn't pretending. _

_Ra's takes his hand forward. "Come back to the Shadows, Artemis Crock. Stop playing the hero game." _

_Then her demeanor changed from stunned to defiantly glaring at the Leader of the Shadows. "That's Artemis Wayne and you must be batshit crazy if you think I would back to my old life!" She quickly reached for her pouch on her leg and threw smoke bombs to the floor. _

_She fired a bomb arrow at the wall and used that as her escape route. Before she could run away, she was grasped tightly by Talia who nonchalantly passed her a small note to her and turned away. _

_Artemis was a bit startled and she trotted out of the mansion. It was only two miles away that she found Red and Purple Arrow. They were already on their respective bikes. _

_"Glad to see you in one piece." Purple Arrow said as he threw her helmet at her. _

_"Me too." She muttered as she got on her bike. "We're you able to contact the League at all?" _

_"No. The radio interference here is huge. We decided to wait for you instead." Red Arrow explained._

_Artemis smirked under her helmet and she revved her engine. "Aww, I feel so loved~" _

And now she was at the Queen Residence. Dinah has been waiting for them to come home. They filled her in on what happened during the mission.

It was clear to Dinah that Artemis had been set-up to take on the job and to confront the League who she has been avoiding.

The blonde archer declared she's going home via zeta beam to Gotham City. All she wanted to do is sleep the mission off. And she has an appointment with Talia.

"You are always welcome to sleep here, Artemis." Dinah said, hoping she could coax the girl to sleep at the mansion tonight. She knew how exhausted she must've been with the encounter from her past.

The stubborn archer shook her head. "Thanks, Dinah but I have training tomorrow morning with Bruce." Artemis winced as she said that. She barely remembered that she had training tomorrow morning. And then she also had practice with Dinah. . "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon for practice?"

"Maybe on Saturday instead, ok?"

Artemis beamed at her mentor before the computer recognized her and transferred her to Gotham City, the lower part where she used to live at. At this time and place, criminals are crawling all over the place, but as a Crock; criminals don't mess with her. Artemis still didn't know what her dad did to them to fear the Crock name.

Then again, her dad is the infamous _Sportsmaster_. He probably javelin the shit out of them or something.

It took her a minute to reach her destination: her old apartment. Flashes of her dead mother's body lying in her body plagued her mind. She slowly opened the door slowly, and her eyes landed on a spotless hallway.

She cautiously entered the room before closing the door behind her and it was no surprise to her to find Talia al Ghul sitting patiently on a couch.

"Artemis, it is good to see you well." Talia started. "I assumed you like your new job as a super hero?"

She nodded her head. "Yes."

"Why is that so? You are—were one of the best assassins we have. Lady Shiva isn't pleased that you used her training to use for heroism. Why did you abandoned us—me just to play hero, Artemis? I know how exhausting you are to go from Batgirl, to Gold Arrow and to Artemis Wayne in all in one day. Those two hero personas are exhausting you mentally. You don't even know who you are in this hero business." Talia kept her calm demeanor as she brought her leg over hers and her green eyes staring right through her. "So, why Artemis, do you continue to be a hero?"

"Being a hero makes up for the sin I created when I was an assassin for you, Talia."

The al Ghul smiled at the answer. "I see. You picked your path already. Then I trust that you can do one more mission for me?"

Artemis glared at her. "I'm not going back to that path—"

"_He _misses you so, Artemis." Talia smirked once she saw the look on her old assassin. She stood up and made her way by the window. She gazed straight into the depths of Gotham City. "It's not a usual mission you do for me. There is no killing involve. I have seen your resolved to stay in the hero game and thus I entrust you to a _simple_ rescue mission."

"A rescue mission?"

"My father has taken him away from me. Even I do not know where he resides right now. I want you to find him and rescue him and take him to his father."

"Wait, wait. How am I going to know his father?"

"You've seen their eyes, their facial structure. Don't you say that he looks a bit like him?"

Artemis's eyes bulged out as she pieced the puzzle together. All this time when she lived at the Wayne manor there was always something familiar about Bruce. But now that she finally realized it—"Does he even know about his son?"

Talia turns away from the window. "My father insisted in keeping it a secret. His son is something my father can use for the benefit for the Light and himself. Please do not tell him until you found him."

"Do you have a lead on him?"

"Perhaps you can ask the Red Hood for assistance. He knows all of the Shadow's bases."

"Red Hood? Why would he—?"

There was a loud chopping noise outside and Artemis sees the helicopter flying their way. She watched her old mentor climbed out the window and she followed closely. Talia stepped on the ladder and looked back, "I hope to hear good news, Artemis." She said before the helicopter flew away.

The archer watched the helicopter into Gotham City before elevating a bit higher and disappeared to the gray colored clouds. She heaved a sigh and jumped down from patio to patio until she reached the ground. She crossed the street to get to the zeta-beam transport and used that to get to the Wayne Manor.

She wasn't surprised to find Batman typing away on his computer.

"You should get some sleep." Artemis suggested as she found the clock saying; 5:50. It's amazing how the man doesn't have any eye bags when he's out as Bruce Wayne.

Bruce whirled around to face her. "How was your mission with Dane and Roy?"

Artemis sat down on the nearest table and began telling him about the mission from the start. Her adoptive father just sat there, listening to her every word, nodding once in a while and she could even tell when there was a change of expressions on his face. She always knew that Bruce Wayne is a caring man.

She left out the last part where she met up with Talia who had entrusted her to rescue her son wherever that brat was at.

"I'm glad that you made it out alive. The League and I will check out that base ASAP. Go get some rest and I'll hold our training session till Sunday."

Artemis never felt so happy in her life. "Thanks, Bruce!" She smiled at him before jumping off the table and ran quickly up the stairs.

The archer noticed how quiet the mansion can get during at night. During the day, it was always loud with Jason shouting at everyone for no reason, Tim playing with everyone, and Dick just being Dick. She chuckled lowly and failed to notice a certain butler standing next to her.

"Ah, Miss Artemis, I'm so glad you made it home from your mission with the Arrows." Alfred greeted, ignoring the alarming and glaring look from the blonde. "I take it the mission went all?"

Artemis sighed and shook her head. "It turned out into a disaster in the end, but we've managed to take care of it."

"I'm glad that you are without injuries." The Butler smiled at her and pushed a little boy in front of him. "I'm afraid that Master Tim wanted to wait until you arrive back from your mission. I could not get him to get to bed."

Artemis smiled warmly at the half asleep Tim. "I'll take him off your hands, Alfred. Have a good night."

"Thank you and you as well, Miss Artemis." Alfred bowed slightly before leaving them in the middle of the foyer.

"C'mon Tim." She held his hand as she took him to his room.

She didn't know when it started, but it took her a long time to realize that Tim was clingy to her ever since she caught him that one night, a month ago. Tim often has nightmares of the night Joker killed his parents and would go to Jason, Dick or Artemis if it were to happen.

The archer led the boy to her bed and told Tim softly to go to sleep. It wasn't good for a little boy to be awake at this hour. Artemis heads for her bathroom to take a quick shower. She quickly dried her hair and dressed. When she entered her room again Tim hasn't fallen asleep yet.

She plopped next to Tim and pinched his cheeks tightly ignoring the pouty expression on his face. "Good night, Tim."

"Good night, 'Mis."

* * *

_Next Chapter; "Artemis!" The little blonde went and hugged her. When Jason appeared next to them, Stephanie then embraced him. "Jason! I miss you guys!"_

_Sorry for not updating for a long time! I'm only updating on the weekends now. And to clear a few things up; Artemis is going to be Batgirl for a very long time. Tim won't be Robin for a very long time. Unless I do a timeskip which I won't till later. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed the story and reviews are appreciated c:_


	8. Chapter 8

_A Messy Situation _

* * *

The ride down to Crime Alley was quiet. None of them spoke the whole way and Artemis thought it was weird. Did Jason get all sentimental whenever he visits his old place?

Artemis glanced at him and she briefly caught his blue-green orbs.

"What?" He asked irritated.

She glared. "You're unusually quiet, _Jaybird_."

"Don't call me that!" Jason groaned. "It's already bad enough that Roy can't stop calling me by that name now."

"But it's so catchy, Jaybird." She smirked when she received a finger from him. It suddenly felt like old times when they would argue all the time because Jason as a kid was an asshole to her. Maybe he didn't like the fact that he was taking care of a little snarky blonde girl and she might add that Jason almost burned her hair off. That's beside the point right now, but when they were kids, Artemis did nothing but rile him up for no reason and he would respond with almost burning all of her hair off.

"I'm going to burn off all of your hair." Jason threatened.

"Not before I cut off your manhood." Artemis retaliated.

And they were locked into a glaring contest before there was a loud bang on the window next to Artemis and there was a little girl beaming at them.

The blonde quickly smiled at the girl and opened the door. "Stephanie!"

"Artemis!" The little blonde went and hugged her. When Jason appeared next to them, Stephanie then embraced him. "Jason! I miss you guys!"

"I miss you too!" Artemis chirped with a smile. She truly did miss the little brat. The two of them were eventually taken under by Jason's babysitting care, but Stephanie stayed under his care longer since she disappeared with her father to the Shadows. Then she scanned her surroundings.

The smell, the sound, the sight, she was back in her old neighborhood, even though it was only eight months ago that she used to live here with her mother.

Jason suggested taking a look around and she followed closely behind him. Artemis snorted when she noticed the little blonde girl clinging with her life to Jason's. She always knew that Stephanie had a crush on Jason—a childhood crush.

"Oh, Steph, is your mom home? I haven't seen her in a long time." Artemis said, feeling nostalgic about the past.

"Um, I haven't seen my mommy lately." Stephanie confessed and she lowered her head down.

Jason and Artemis glanced at each other momentarily before setting their eyes at the little blonde girl.

The eldest Wayne rested a hand on her shoulder and bended one of his knees. "Steph, how long was your mom gone for?"

Right there and then, they could hear a quiet sob erupted from the small girl and Artemis immediately knew the situation. "I haven't seen her for—for three months now. Daddy hasn't been home for a while now."

She heard a sharp click from Jason before pulling Stephanie for a hug. Then she realized that the reason he keeps coming back to the old neighborhood was to check on Stephanie. Artemis watched him whisper something to the little blonde and she watched as her face went from a frown to the happiest girl alive.

Stephanie hastily said she'll be back in a few minutes and ran out of the vicinity.

Artemis glanced at Jason. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her to pack her bags and she's going to stay at the manor for a little while." He explained.

"Are you going to force Bruce to adopt her?"

"Well he likes taking in strays, right? Besides, we're only taking her in once I tracked her mom down."

Artemis furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Wait, what about her dad?"

This time Jason heaved a sigh. "I don't know if you knew but her dad is the Cluemaster."

She blankly stared at him. "Is he some kind of hero or something?"

"Fuck no. Some C-list criminal. He's nothing to worry about." He snorted. Not a lot of people knew of the Cluemaster's existence since he was kind of a Riddler wannabe. "Last night, he got caught war between the Penguin and the Black Mask. He died in the crossfire."

Artemis frowned as her mind pieced the information together in her head. To think that Stephanie has been living alone in this kind of neighborhood is saddening. It was a few minutes later after that conversation that Stephanie came back with a small bag.

"I can't wait to see the place where you guys stay at!" She piped up and Artemis ruffled her hair. Things were about to get interesting in the manor now.

.

It was almost an hour since they had picked up Stephanie from their old neighborhood and their stay at the local McDonalds since Stephanie demanded to have one. Jason complied easily since it was almost lunchtime and they all ordered food.

Stephanie took her time eating her meal before heading to the playground. It was then the perfect opportunity to ask Jason some questions she was dying to ask.

"Jason, I was wondering if you could help me with a mission."

He raised an eyebrow as munched through his fries. "What kind?"

"A search and rescue mission." Artemis had given herself three weeks to search for Talia's kid but to no avail, she couldn't. It was almost impossible without having Bruce on your back 24/7 after that particular run in with the Shadows with the Arrows.

And she thought she knew all of the Shadow's bases, but they were some undisclosed locations that she never knew about.

"Bruce is good at that kind of—"

"Talia specifically ordered me not to tell him until I found the person."

That certainly got Jason's attention as he stopped munching on his food and he had his full attention on the blonde. There was a spark in his blue-green orbs and she knew she got him interested. She told him her full story with the recent mission with the Arrows including the part where she met Talia at her old apartment. She told him everything Talia told her.

At the end, Jason could only say, "I see." He took a bite of his hamburger.

"How were you acquainted with her, Jay?"

The eldest Wayne took a sip of his drink before telling his story. "You should know that I am the first Robin."

"No shit."

"And the first Robin to die." Jason calmly continued his blue-green orbs locked onto hers.

Artemis expression change to that of a shocked one. She realized why Bruce never talked about Jason's days as a Robin and Bruce only told her that he was a good Robin. The best one he could ever ask for and even when the old man said that, Artemis could tell there was an underlying meaning to that.

"Actually, I didn't die but I was on the verge of dying. I was on the ventilator for weeks and I was hanging on with only a speck of life I have left." He explained. He got into more details how he got into that kind of situation. Jason had found out that he had his biological mother somewhere still alive out there and he went on a search for her. In the end, his mother betrayed him to the Joker and the psychotic madman had beaten him to half death before exploding the warehouse with him and his mother.

The blonde could not fathom how his own mother could betray her only son.

"I was on a coma for a full year before I could make a full recovery. I woke up expecting Bruce beside me or hell even Alfred, but I woke up alone. It was the doctor that told me that I was out for a full year and it was only a fucking miracle that I was even barely alive after that explosion."

"It is a miracle that you were able to survive that explosion." Artemis said, placing her hand on top of his and squeezed it.

Jason nodded. "I know. But the worst part after waking up alone and leaving the hospital without any authorization what I didn't expect to see Batman with another Robin. I was so devastated that I was so easily replaced that I left the city. I didn't know where to start, but Talia found me at New York. Her men had been keeping a watch on me ever since."

"You should know that I can't feel one half of my body. It was numb and my body felt really weak. When Talia found me, she offered me to train me, to get my strength back and I accepted it. She disobeyed her father and she let me use the Lazarus Pit to restore my body. Then she shipped me off to All-Caste."

Artemis eyes bulged out as soon the name came out of his mouth. "All-Caste? The All-Caste?"

"Yes, that All-Caste, 'Mis. Don't tell me Talia shipped you off there too."

"She did for a while but she took me back. I never went as far to take the Cleansing though."

Jason smugly grinned at her. "I passed the Cleansing." His grin grew wider when she glared at him.

"Anyways, why did you go with Talia? Did you even ask Bruce why he even got another Robin?" Artemis dipped her fries on the ranch.

"He didn't tell me until a year later when I left All-Caste and went back to Gotham for revenge. It didn't go as planned." He ignored the first question about Talia, but Artemis didn't mind. "I kidnapped Dick to torment him but in the end I ended up liking the kid and he only took my mantle just to get his revenge on Tony Zucco which he did. The kid used to visit me in the hospital, waiting for any chance for me to wake up. The kid practically worships the ground I walk on."

This time Artemis held back her laughter. Now she knew why Dick always talked about Jason in such high regard. He looked up to him. "So what? You forgot about your revenge and decided to be the cool awesome older brother to Dick?"

Jason shrugged. "Somewhat." And he left it at that.

She figured that something else must've convinced him to go back home and she knew behind that underlying smile that their adoptive father was involved. Artemis didn't press on with the subject since she knew now how Jason was involved with Talia.

"Will you help me with the mission?" Artemis asked once again.

"It depends who it is we're looking for." Jason replied.

She heaved a sigh before taking out her white iPhone and went through her photo gallery. Once she found the picture she was looking for, she handed it to him. "His name is Damian."

Jason's eyes widened. "No fucking way. Talia hid this from Bruce all this time?" He handed the phone back to her.

"I guess so. Ra's didn't want Bruce to know since he could use Damian as leverage against him."

Jason nodded. "Well it could take weeks before I could find the brat. If anything, I'm going to bring my _team_ with us."

Artemis was slightly startled by that information. She smiled slyly, "I didn't know you were running a team. Who are they?"

"I won't be telling you till then, 'Mis." He smirked as the blonde scowled at him.

They talked for a few minutes about other things such as her team, the Young Justice team. Apparently Jason had seen them once but never met them. Since he wasn't too much of a team person and yet he's in one. They talked about school how Jason finally graduated from Gotham Academy and now Bruce is trying to get him to apply for Gotham University.

It was a few minutes later that Stephanie came skipping back to their table with a huge grin on her face as she sat next to Artemis. It was the next moment that everyone in the restaurant had everyone on the edge of their seats.

Thugs who had surrounded the fast food place had taken out their guns and began shooting on the ceiling to get everyone's attention.

"Stay calm everyone or else." One of them said, showcasing his AK-47.

Artemis quickly wrapped a protective shield around Stephanie and pulled her in for a hug. She looked at Jason for any indication if he already contacted Bruce and he slightly nodded.

And now all they needed is to wait.

She carefully observed the robbers as they stood around. It was until one of them came up to their table and pointed a gun at them. The man grinned wickedly before gesturing them to stand up. The men in either sides came up and held their gun point blank before signaling the Wayne kids to follow one of them into the back of McDonalds.

"Tie them up and let's go." One of them ordered.

Artemis refused to let go of Stephanie, but even so, she reluctantly gave in and let them tie her up with her hands behind her back. They did the same thing for Jason who seemed ready to attack them at any second. They took him first into the van.

"Wait, who this little kid?"

"I thought they were only two Wayne kids in this joint?"

The man, who held them in gunpoint at first, whipped his phone out before confirming, "She's nobody. Dispose of her."

"My pleasure,"

_Click._

Artemis stared in horror as the man readied his gun and pointed it at Stephanie. She glanced at the mortified little girl. Steph doesn't deserve to be killed in such a cruel way and so young. She watched the man's index finger on the trigger point closely and when he pulled—

_Bang!_

"Artemis!"

* * *

_Next Chapter; The YJ team is assigned to a rescue mission at Gotham.  
_

_Hmm. I had lots of fun writing this chapter. I don't know, I really enjoy writing Jason interacting with Artemis. They're my OTP guys. LOL. Next to Traught too. sa;lkjeae yes! I can't wait for teh new episode this weekend. Why can't we just timeskip to Saturday? :c Anyways, there will be lots of Bats and Arrows interaction next chapter. I would like to say thank you for all the favs, follows and the reviews. Seriously, I love you guys! And reviews are appreciated~ c:  
_


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter 9: Family Matters  
_

* * *

"I will be assigning you to a rescue mission." Batman announced as soon he entered the cave via zeta beam. He swiped his hand in the air and appeared a hologram keyboard and a screen. He typed in a few words and blinking red dots appeared on the screen.

Robin narrowed his eyes, recognizing the street names and he whispered, "Gotham? We're having a mission at Gotham?" His confused eyes locked in with his mentors.

Batman glared at his protégé before turning all of his attention to the rest of the team. "I will be assigning you to a rescue mission at Gotham. The point of interests in this mission is Jason Todd-Wayne," A picture appeared on the screen, showcasing a teen with piercing aquamarine eyes. "And Artemis Wayne." Another picture showed next to the last picture.

There was a collective gasps among the team and they seemed stunned that one of their teammates would be involved in a kidnapping case and to think they were going to rescue her.

Robin seemed absolutely livid at the thought of someone kidnapping his siblings. He knew he should've not ignored the bad feelings he kept getting today and now his siblings were kidnapped.

There were not a lot of kidnappers would have a lot of guts to kidnapped the eldest Wayne since the last time—from what Robin had heard from Alfred— that Jason had escaped so any times that kidnappers just left him alone.

Now that Artemis is part of the Wayne family now, the kidnappers probably thought it was easier to kidnap her. Robin clenched his fist tightly, just thinking about it. There were many incidents when he used to be kidnapped to be ransomed for money. It was the usual thing, but it irked Robin that Artemis was kidnapped because of this.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the zeta beam nearby activating and announcing the arrivals of Green Arrow, Black Canary, Red Arrow and Arsenal.

The hooded green man stomped towards the black knight and demanded, "What the hell is going on?"

Black Canary laid a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder to calm him. "GA, please be calm about this."

Green Arrow glanced at his girlfriend, giving her an exasperated look before sighing. "What's going on?"

Batman stood still, his attention now towards the other hero. "I'm sending the team to rescue her. Red Arrow and Arsenal are welcome to join." He offered and the twins accepted without a second thought.

"Wait," Green Arrow said, "Let me help. Let me help with this rescue mission."

The Dark Knight crossed his arms and denied. "No. I will not have another leaguer in my city. The team is enough for the Wayne's rescue." There was a silence hanging in the air as the two men glared at each other. The one in the green let out an exasperated sigh before stomping away back to the zeta beam.

"Arrow, where are you going?" Black Canary inquired, going after her boyfriend. Green Arrow didn't reply as the computer immediately recognized the hero as soon he stepped closed to the zeta beam. Black Canary followed through before giving the team a small pleading look.

And in an instant, the couple was gone in a flash of light.

Robin glanced at his mentor once more before the leader of the team announced they were heading out.

.

There were many things running through his head as of right now. Just a minute ago, they just left the cave.

"We'll arrive in Gotham. ETA: Twenty minutes." The Green Martian announced.

Robin groaned to himself, just thinking how much could happen in the span of twenty minutes while Artemis and Jason at the hands of their kidnapper. He knew he shouldn't worry too much, but he couldn't get rid of the bad feeling in his guts. He knew Artemis is a very capable girl, trained by the best and an ex-assassin. He also knew that Jason wouldn't let anyone in danger close to him.

He felt a slight pang in his chest, Robin can't handle losing anyone. He dread the day where his family would leave him and leaving him all alone in the world. He hasn't told anyone about it but he still dreamed of his parent's death.

That dream alone terrified him still.

Robin felt a hand laid on his shoulder which brought him back to reality. He looked to his right and casted reassuring glance at his best friend.

"I'm fine, KF."

The hero clad in yellow and red seemed unconvinced. "No you're not. I know that look, Rob. You're worried. Heck, everyone is worried here. You're not the only one."

The protégé took a good look at his best friend and noticed the worried expression. He moved his eyes to his teammates and all have similar expressions, even the infamous Harper twins.

He let out a soft sigh. "I can't help but worry for her. I just—I really have a bad feeling about this."

Kid Flash decided not to reply. He didn't want to say, but he also had a bad feeling about this rescue mission and he was pretty sure the rest of the team could feel it.

"I have a clear view on the vehicle." M'Gann announced, grabbing everyone's attention. It was only a few minutes ago that they had finally left the mountain and now they were in depths of Gotham City, searching for their kidnapped teammate.

Robin narrowed his eyes as a black van came into view. His thoughts were flash by an image of Artemis and Jason. He knew they could handle themselves, but he still had a bad feeling.

Aqualad's voiced tore through his train of thoughts and he listened intently to the team leader. He soaked in every word that came out of the leader's voice and his eyes widens at the two members that Aqualad is only sending.

"Wait, Aqualad, just the two of them?!" Kid Flash blurted out loud. Ever since they were sent to this mission, he had been itching for a fight.

Aqualad folded his arms and nodded sternly. "Yes. M'Gann has already informed that they are just human. It would be efficient by saving them this way without causing damage to the city."

Robin frowned and didn't bother to add in to KF's argument. Batman would hate it if the team cost damage to his city and he wouldn't like the outcome of that. His mentor already hates the fact that he's letting his team into the city for a simple rescue mission.

He watched as Connor switched places with the Martian. Zatanna stood up from her place and stood next to M'Gann.

.

Jason cursed to himself as he helplessly watched his childhood friend suffering. He held the little blonde tightly around his arms and glared at the man who was watching them with the gun held.

He kept his focus on Artemis and knew she was losing a lot of blood by just the puddle of blood surrounding her. The kidnappers had kept them separate from each other and Jason had to oblige. He couldn't risk getting Stephanie hurt and making Artemis's situation even worse. It was bad enough that one Wayne child is suffering.

He balled his fist tightly at the thought that these kidnappers would go as far to try to kill Stephanie and instead they shot the needed hostage.

Jason locked eyes with Artemis, trying to keep her focus on him and trying not to sleep at the same time. Stephanie, who is trembling against him, snuggled in some more to contain her sniffling. He only held the blonde even tighter and whisper softly that it was going to be ok. Help is on the way. He knew Batman would send someone in his place.

"Artemis_!_ Keep your eyes open!" He hissed as soon he saw the blonde's lids slowly closing.

Artemis grunted softly and coughed a couple times. "I'm _trying_." She coughed some more and tried her best to sit up. She was breathing heavily and she kept a pressure on her wound to stop it from bleeding out.

Jason clicked his tongue and glared at the man who was watching over them. These douchebags didn't even bother patching up Artemis, even when he demanded them to do so. They simply ignored him.

He knew someone, some _team _was going to save them and he knew who Batman was going to send. After all, the Dark Knight doesn't operate in the middle of the afternoon.

And as if someone has been listening to him, he felt the van being lifted from the ground. He heard the guys in the front cursing loudly and something about Wayne sending in help for his kids already.

He saw someone emerging from the walls of the van and noted it was the green Martian, one of the members that his little brother is in and another person with a top hat.

Jason heard a loud shout, "_Og ot peels won!"_ And in the instant, the kidnappers slumped to the ground and the eldest Wayne wasted no time to quickly approach the bleeding blonde. He placed two fingers against her neck, trying to find any pulse as Artemis closed her eyes just a few seconds before the two heroes came in.

"Take us to Gotham General now. Artemis is losing a lot of blood and I don't know how long she'll last." Jason ordered. The Green Martian nodded at his command. The Magician that put the kidnappers to sleep sat next to him and magically popped out a med kit. The two girls then tried to stop the bleeding but Jason knew that Artemis would need a blood transfusion.

"How-how long has she been like this?" One with the top hat inquired.

"About half an hour." He replied. He heard a few muttering curses from the girls and continued to watch as they tried to stop the bleeding.

It wasn't for another few minutes that Jason felt the van land on ground and the van doors were immediately _ripped_ opened revealing a young man with a superman logo T-shirt. Soon after that a rush of nurses came in to take Artemis onto the gurney and Jason watched as they did so.

He got off the van and in the corner of his eyes he saw a familiar Robin staring at him. Jason took this opportunity to approach the team and did something that he rarely did.

"Thank you for saving us. If you guys haven't come in time, my sister wouldn't be able to make it."

Jason received a few 'no problems' and 'you're welcome' and watched the young teens leave in their bioship whilst taking the van with them. He took out his phone and called the person he needed to contact.

"Bruce, I'm at Gotham General. I'm fine, Artemis isn't. Ok. I'll see you soon then." And pushed the end button on his phone. He felt a soft tug and he looked down at the terrified little blonde.

"Jay, is Artemis going to be ok?"

"She won't die that easily."

.

Five grueling hours passed since the hospital taken in Artemis into surgery. The entire Wayne family along with Oliver Queen, Dinah Lance and the Harpers waited and waited for five grueling hours for any news regarding her surgery. Their main concern was the big wound on the blonde's abdomen and they were worried. She has in fact lost a lot of blood.

Bruce was immediately informed by his eldest how they got into their messy situation at McDonalds and how easily it went bad from a simple hostage situation. The billionaire felt guilty for the young ward he took in recently. She was only a Wayne for only a couple of months and kidnappers went looking for her as a way for getting money.

He felt angry and sorrow. Angry because of the ransom. He knew the other boys were often used to this, but it never turned for the worst ever. Not the way how Artemis currently is. The feeling of sorrow seeped in through his body as morbid thoughts entered his mind. He glanced at his eldest and suddenly remembered the feeling when he first heard his son went into a coma. A long-term coma and when he finally woke up, he instantly disappeared. Gone. _Dead_.

As the door hissed opened, Bruce glanced at the doctor and his train of thoughts broke. His crystal blues landed on the person he'd been waiting for.

"Mr. Wayne, a word please?"

Bruce nodded and gestured his old friends to follow him. The doctor led the pair of billionaires and Dinah Lance at the end of the hallway.

"Was the surgery a success?" Dinah worriedly inquired.

The doctor nodded and continued to say more, "Yes. We were able to remove the bullets from Artemis and able to stopped the bleeding. We stitched her up, but it will take a while for her to recover." He explained. "The bad news, she needs more blood."

Oliver gave him a face as if he was saying '_this is a hospital, you have blood damn it!'_ He raised his hands in the air and demanded, "Give her more blood then!"

"The thing is about Miss Wayne's blood is her blood type is the rarest type. We were lucky to have a half of AB Negative left, but unfortunately, we also ran out of the A, B, and O Negative blood. We are in the process of asking other hospitals for any blood, but right now, we are trying to keep her more comfortable as possible."

The blonde billionaire gave him a hardened look. "She's not going to—"

The doctor immediately shook his head. "Of course not. We are giving her small amounts of blood and giving her tablets to replenish her blood until supplies come in. In the mean time, please do not worry. We will do our best to make sure she will be replenish with blood."

Bruce nodded slowly, letting the news seep in. His mind racked of how he could find a donor easily when he gets the chance to go home later. "Thank you."

The doctor nodded and as well to the couple and he left without a word. The three adults headed back to the other end of the hallway. When they finally arrived, they were immediately bombarded with questions.

"Is Artemis ok?!"

Bruce looked at his son and patted his hair. "She's fine, Dick. They safely removed the bullets and stopped bleeding."

There was a sigh of relief around them. It was good to know that Artemis was going to live the next day. But even then, they could tell there was more news and before anyone could ask for the bad news, Jason went straight to the answer.

"She needs a blood transfusion, doesn't she?" Jason said aloud, his question sounding more of a statement rather. He stared up at his father as if he knew all along.

Bruce sighed. "Yes, since her blood is a rare type. They ran out of A, B and O Negative blood packets as well."

"'Mis has AB Negative blood?" Tim stated in disbelief. He counted something to himself before saying, "The chance of this hospital of finding an AB Negative blood is slim to none."

Jason shook his head and he suggested something else. "Unless one of you guys happened to be any of the alphabet negative types." He stared at the non-Wayne members.

Oliver shook his head saying along the lines of being O positive. Along with Dinah and the Harpers.

Bruce massaged his temples before announcing, "I'll go back to the manor if there are any donors available."

"Um," Stephanie finally spoke up and suddenly find herself immersed by the strange stares. "There is someone who has the similar blood type to Artemis."

Dick's eyes widen. He jumped off the couch and inquired, "Who?"

Stephanie shifted uncomfortably and scooted closer to Jason. The eldest Wayne glared at his little brother to back off. It took a few seconds later to receive an answer from the young girl.

"Her papa~"


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter 10: The Truth  
_

* * *

"It's a match." Bruce confirmed as he leaned his head on his folded arms and re-reads the results one more time. The bustling noise inside the cave suddenly turned quiet. None replied to the glaring screen in front of them as they were stumped on what to do next.

Dick breathes in, disbelief written all over his face. He knew how Artemis spouted how she didn't want to be like her dad. Like the rest of the family and the blonde had hated how she shared her looks to her father. It irritated her and wondered if that's why Sportsmaster favored her the most. And now, she even has the same blood as her dad.

Then he frowned and glanced at his older brother. "Jason how did that—"

"Stephanie."

"—Stephanie knew about that?"

The eldest Wayne shrugged and replied, "We used to babysit Steph for a little while." He mused, a quirk on the corner of his lips. "I don't know if Artemis continued to take care of her after Bruce took me in."

"Well given to that as well, Sportsmaster and 'Mis are related after all." Tim pointed out.

Dick slightly glared at his little brother and before he could say anything, his mentor interrupted him. "Tim, please go up to your room. Check on Stephanie as you go as well."

The little man wanted to protest, wanting to say he could help with the situation but kept his mouth close. The look he received from his adopted father refrained himself from arguing back and Tim with his head lay low, walked up the stairs and out of the cave.

As soon they heard the echo of the door closing, Jason turned his attention to his dad. "Are we going after Sportsmaster?"

Bruce stayed quiet, his mind racking with ideas on how to approach this. He glanced at his second son, pleadingly gazing at him. He could send the Young Justice team after Sportsmaster. But it was too risky and too dangerous for the team.

'_They already been into dangerous situations already.'_ His mind flashback to the time in New Years Eve. Bruce had praised them, for a good job and handling it well throughout.

Then he glanced at his first son whose gaze was piercing through him. Bruce could easily send Jason to do the job. He was used to dangerous stuff and he was aware that Jason is capable enough against Sportsmaster. But he didn't want to send Jason alone in the mission.

His mind continued to contemplate whether to send Jason or his team out. In a matter for a few minutes, his mind had been already made up and he swivel his chair and faced his son's gazing stares.

"Jason, Dick, dress up. Meet me in the Mountain in twenty minutes."

.

Red Hood shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of the little team that Robin was placed into. It was awkward since he knew who they were, but not vice versa. Hood had indirectly met them in the Batcomputer database as he was curious what kind of team Robin was running with.

He knew single members present, since he read every file on them before when the team was barely formed. It was the time that Artemis hasn't joined the team, so the Hood was surprised to find his childhood friend in the team and no less using her own given name as a superhero.

"I will also make Red Hood as team leader also." Batman announced which caused Hood to snapped out of his stupor. Suddenly, all of the gazes were upon him once again. Geez, do these fucking kids have a staring problem? "Hood, go talk to Aqualad for the mission." His mentor walked towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Please do not do anything drastic."

Red Hood nodded and he faced the dark skinned leader of the group. Aqualad nodded at him and gestured at the older man to follow, which Hood complied. They arrived in a room, filled with nice furniture and a nearby wall waterfall. He took the first nearest couch and finally acknowledged the Atlantean.

Aqualad simply greeted him with the usual nice to meet you gesture. And the dark skinned boy simply went straight into the battle plan. It would be different for the team to have two different leaders leading the team and even so, he doesn't know how the Red Hood works and his abilities. Aqualad was sure, like Batman and Robin, that Red Hood doesn't have any form of powers.

"Actually, why won't you lead the team instead." Red Hood stated rather than a question. "The team is used to you leading them and you know their abilities."

Aqualad seemed floored at such statement. "But Batman had ordered you and I to—"

The man in the helmet waved his hand. "Who cares what the old man thinks. I'm tagging along with the interest of Artemis. It'll be better."

"If you insist, Red Hood." The dark skinned frowned and wondered if this was such a good idea. But it was at least good that they have someone in the team that could go on par with Sportsmaster.

.

Getting Sportsmaster's blood is harder than they thought it would. Then again, he isn't a super villain for nothing. Unfortunately the plan that Aqualad and Red Hood had come up together had failed and the team began winging it until their target escaped.

Apparently, Robin states as if it was the obvious through the mind link. '_It's a routine. Our plans never go in plan anyways.'_

'_Great, just great. Just how the hell did we manage to fail this mission?!' _Kid Flash exclaimed loudly in the mind link. '_Batman is going to have our hides!'_ He threw his hands up in the air exasperatedly.

Superboy made a face at his teammate. '_If you had waited for my signal, Sportsmaster wouldn't have noticed your presence!'_

Flash accusingly pointed a finger at the super. "At least I didn't give my position away!"

Kaldur heaved a sigh and rubbed his temples. Why do things end up like this every time something goes _wrong_? He didn't want to admit it, but he was glad that Artemis wasn't present at the moment or else, he would have to endure the screaming death match between her and Kid Flash.

The dark skinned leader decided to step up between his teammates. "Enough. We do not need to get into arguments right now. We can't resume the mission anymore since we lost our target."

There were a few disappointed flashes on his teammates face and begrudgingly entered the bioship awaiting them.

Robin was disappointed how the mission went and he felt like he failed Artemis. The only thing he was thinking was stealing the blood from the villain. Of course, things doesn't go as planned since they had managed to lose the only person who shared Artemis's blood.

He glanced at his older brother, whom was gazing into the sky. He didn't know what he was thinking since his brother's face was in a helmet. Robin quickly jogged by the Hood's side.

"Hood, let's go."

.

Her orbs immediately opened to the darkness. She groaned slightly as she suddenly felt weak. The beeping noise she had been hearing faintly suddenly has her attention and Artemis whips her head around as she tries to assess her situation.

_'Calm down, Artemis.'_ She told herself, feeling heart pounding louder and louder. Her mind had finally registered that she was in the hospital and felt suddenly annoyed with the cords on her. She didn't try to pull it out, as she felt too weak to do so. She tried to think how did she end here in the first place.

All she could remember meeting up with Stephanie with Jason when they visited Crime Alley together. Then eating at McDonalds, then…. then—

Artemis instantly sat up, accidently ripping off the cords as her frantic mind made her panic. She remembered being held hostage, and _oh god_ one of them pointing at a gun at the little girl and she had taken the shot in the shoulder.

_Shit, shit! I need to get to the phone._ Artemis tried to slide off the bed, to reach the phone nearby but she was instantly slammed back onto the bed. She panicked when she realize that she wasn't alone and foolish that she didn't even feel the presence!

"Who—?"

"Baby girl, don't try to do anything stupid while your blood depleted by that much."

Artemis's orbs finally focused on the man she hated to call Dad and her expression changed that to an angry one. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Lawrence guffawed at the reaction he received. "Is it a crime to visit my own daughter?"

"Yes!" She shouted, feeling the anger coursing through her bloodstream. "Just what the hell are you doing here? Going to kill me? Just like what you did to Mom?" She watched her dad's stormy greys hardened and instantly his emotions unreadable.

Artemis wasn't sure what her dad was going to do and she was positive that she hit a sore spot on the subject. She couldn't help it to bring it up because she needed to know his _reasons_ to kill her mom.

Lawrence folded his arms. "You're lucky that I was nice enough to donate my blood to you, dear daughter." He said, ignoring the previous brought up subject. "Your stupid team went after me earlier. Hearing that they needed my blood for you, of course I came to visit you."

The blonde girl defiantly glared at her dad. "You didn't need to visit me."

"Of course I need to do, baby girl. I care about you."

"Don't call me that! You never cared about your family, not even when you brutally killed mom!"

Artemis panicked when her dad moved in closer, scared of what the outcome would be. "Understand this, stupid girl. I would never harm the woman I once love. Killing your mother would never bring you back to the Shadows, girl. I'm not stupid." Lawrence backed up and he went to the window next to her and gaze into the lit-up city below.

"There are other people in the Shadows that wanted your mother dead. You should know that person." He cryptically continued.

She froze when she realized _whom_ he was talking about. She gulped and slowly spoke, "I thought they got rid of it."

"'_It_' was insurance just in case you left the Shadows, which you did. Did you think that Ra's would easily let you free?"

She didn't reply. There wasn't any reason that her dad would be lying about this information. She always knew that her dad cared for her mom deeply and it had confused why he suddenly went cold-blooded on her. But now hearing this information, she knew the culprit.

She was too much in thought that she didn't hear the window latched opened and the man in the room disappeared from the room just before the door opened.

"'Mis! You're awake!" The little blonde peeking out from the door lit up like lights and she pushed the door away and ran by Artemis's side. "I was so worried about you!" Stephanie buried her face on her hands.

Before Artemis replied, four other family members entered the room. Another little boy came rushing by her side and happily saying he was glad he was ok.

"Jeez, Artemis, what's with opened window?" Jason grimaced on how cold it was in her room. He made his way to the window to close it.

Dick came by her side next to Stephanie. "Hey Artemis, glad to see you finally awake."

She grinned at him. "A shoulder wound isn't going to kill me."

"But you almost died, 'Mis!" Tim argued back, glaring at her.

Artemis sheepishly smiled. "So I've noticed." She watched as her adopted father finally came up.

"It was good thing since we got a call that the hospital managed to find a donor."

Artemis chuckled nervously. "Yeah, good… thing." She turned her attention to Dick. "Is it ok if you can get me something to eat?"

Dick confusingly stared at her until he got the message and happily took the little Steph and Tim out of the door. Before he walked out of the room, he glanced at her one last time, as if his eyes were saying 'you better tell me'.

"He was here." Bruce stated as soon Dick was out of the door. "Did he say anything to you?"

Artemis shifted uncomfortably on the bed. "There—there is something I need to tell you."

* * *

_Next Chapter; Artemis is finally back into crime fighting after three weeks. She calls Talia for information, but won't give it until she rescued Damian.  
_

_I'm so sorry guys~ I know I haven't updated for a long time and I know I kind of rush this chapter. It's just that, I was struggling to write this chapter. So sorry guys. I think I was getting irritated that I wasn't writing it in Artemis POV~ and I missed writing her. I cut the team's encounter to really short and made it to an aftermath. Honestly, I didn't think that far but all I was thinking that the team failed to get SM's blood. Haha. So please be patient for the next chapter! c:  
_


	11. Chapter 11

**_Wow. I apologize for this late update. I finally got my muse back to write this chapter. I apologize 300 times for this and also for a very short chapter :c but don't worry, next chapter will be long. Extra long. It'll be part two of this chapter. And yes this is Traught story but it's kind of slow. Very slow. But will progress kinda fast after chapter 12. So please look forward to this. And reviews are appreciated.  
_**

* * *

_Chapter 11: Information  
_

* * *

Two months flew by quickly and Artemis was glad to be out of her super hero-ing probation given by Batman himself. It was right after that she was released from the hospital that Batman was laid it out on her by surprised and she couldn't help but think it was unfair.

Then again, she could barely move after three weeks of her supposed recovery.

During those times spent in the hospital, Artemis thought back to the conversation with her dad and the mysterious killer that supposedly killed her mom. There were a lot of questions running through her mind and she knew that her dad did genuinely loved her mom and would never kill her cold-blooded. It was cruel.

Artemis knew the culprit that her dad spoke of and right after her confrontation with him, she had immediately told Bruce about it. She didn't want to keep secrets from the family who had taken her in. She had gained their trust and she trusted them back with her life. It was at least she could do. Because the next time she'll see the culprit, at least Batman and the team will know.

She heaved a sigh at the glaring letters of 'DENIED' blaring at her and she massaged her temples with her hands. She spent the last hour hacking into this one system thinking with all of her hacking skills she learned from Dick that she'll manage to break in. But noooo. She couldn't.

"Are you ready?"

She whirls her chair around and she immediately put her cowl up. Tonight was the first night patrolling since that incident two months ago. Also, it was her first night patrolling with Red Hood. Unfortunately for her, Batman and Robin are in a mission somewhere, leaving the Red Hood and Batgirl to the crime-ridden city. She didn't know how he worked with crime.

Red Hood approaches the computer and stared up at the monitor. She could imagine the raised brow behind the helmet at her failed attempt to hack. "What were you trying to hack?"

Artemis pressed one of the keys on the keyboard and all of the opened windows in the monitor disappeared. "It's nothing. I was just… trying to find something."

The older hero snorted. "More like failed to find something. You should just leave the hacking to Timmy."

"He's actually sleeping at this time, for once." _Without him having stalking us and taking pictures. _Artemis said to herself. Even after Bruce taken the missing Drake heir, the kid still manages to somehow follow them. It was miracle that a criminal or something hadn't caught him. "And stop scaring Tim to get him to sleep! You're going to traumatize the kid."

"I'm not even fuckin' scaring him." He scoffed. "Just preparing him mentally when he takes up the role."

"What? Dick isn't a good Robin for you something?"

"Calm the fuck down, Arty. The kid is going to grow out of his costume eventually. Besides, have you been into his room lately? The brat is already designing his next hero costume."

"Seriously? I— really?"

"Yup. It's _Nightwing_."

.

Artemis dragged her feet to her bed as she slumped on her comfortable bed. _Shit. Patrol with Jay is intense._ She knew she should've continued training a little bit and now she felt as if she was behind everyone else in skills. She knew she's a skilled ex-assassin, but damn. Whatever training Jason received from the All-Caste made him have more endurance. Then again, Bruce did ban her from the training room.

She found herself blankly staring at her phone. Throughout the whole day, she's been determining if she should call or not. Who knew she was this _indecisive_.

Groaning loudly and finally made her decision, she sat up once again on her bed. She crossed her legs and hunched over her phone and dialed the phone number. She thumb hovered the call button for a while. She was nervous. Too nervous. _Oh fuck it_. She lightly taps the screen and brought it over to her ear.

It was mere seconds that the other line picked up with a sharp tone. "_Artemis_."

The blonde automatically flinched and she stated her concerns to the person. If anything, Talia is a reliable source. "I just want to know if _she's _still alive." There was a sudden silence over the phone and she didn't know the outcome will be. She's either going to deny her request or…

"_You haven't saved my son, yet. We will speak when you have done so."_ And the other line goes dead. Artemis stared at her cellphone in disbelief. How could she forget about her request? Damn it. She was so bubbled up with her problems that she forgot about it. Grabbing the nearest pillow, she screamed into the fluffy pillow with a few minor curses here and there.

Once she was finished, she groaned and wondered to herself how the hell did she even forget about this? _Damn it._ Artemis slipped down her bed and dragged herself tiredly from her room and down to the cave. When she arrived at the cave, the information showing on the screen woke her up.

"You found him?"

"I was going to tell you in the morning, but yeah. It took me a while." Jason said, leaning back against the chair and smirking at his work.

Artemis stepped up, gazing still at the screen. She read the information carefully and as she read on, she frowns. "Seriously? Tibet? Why there?"

"It's a well-guarded place. With the four of us, we can take down their whole security system." He says, his eyes analyzing the data. The blueprint of the temple unfortunately he couldn't get. It was either they didn't create one or they seriously did not create one.

Her brow rises and looks at him. "The _four_ of us?"

Jason ignored the question. "In two days we head out for Tibet. I already told Bruce ahead of time of our mission – don't look at me like that. I just told him that I needed you in a particular mission at Hong Kong."

"Well, _fine._ I wonder how Bruce will react to another kid?"

"Haven't you heard, Arty. He likes taking in strays."


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter 12: Same as you...  
_

* * *

She recounts her inventory again, just in case she forgotten something. It wasn't the first time she forgot a significant important thing. Like her first time patrolling with Green Arrow. She literally forgot to bring arrows. She was too excited to even remember them apparently.

And that was one story that Green Arrow promised to keep it a secret. Until Roy—Dane—no wait. He went back calling himself Roy again. She figured it must've been her sister's doing. No surprises there. Roy didn't look like a Dane for one thing. And her sister could be demanding in creative ways. And ta-dah, a little Lian Nguyen Harper was conceived. Ah-hem…

Roy—the first Roy she met— was looking for any blackmail material on her months ago and somehow that red headed bitch managed to trick Oliver to spill everything, the embarrassing stories, etc. It was the most frightening day when Roy began terrorizing her with her stories in exchange to destroy that video she took when they went to save Roy—the second Roy she met.

It'd be kinda mean to distinguish them as 'Clone' and 'Original'. Then again, she did call them once like that before. She didn't mean to! It just slipped…

Not really.

They were downright assholes to her that day and she happily bitched back without a problem. No remorse right there. Because just right after she said that, she got into a two way fight with the twins. Literally!

And guess who reigned on top!

It was….

Kaldur!

Who stopped the fight before it escalated even further!

Boo. You whore.

Anyways, what was she doing? She stares at the objects she was holding in her hands and down on the table. Oh right. Right. Inventory. Fifteen small knives. Check. Arrows. Check. Her bow? In her hand. And she smirked. She would never forget her baby.

"Jeez, take one hundred years to check your inventory, why don't you?" Jason sneered teasingly.

"Shut up. It doesn't hurt to double check." Artemis huffed as she put all of her weapons away in her little pouch and arrow holster. She didn't why she was bringing in so many weapons, but she's been having this unsettled feeling ever since last night. It was that feeling that this will be her last mission. She glanced at Jason. "Let's go."

Jason nods solemnly and heads to their respective motorcycle. Artemis approached her baby and immediately wore her helmet as she revved up her motorcycle. And they took off.

Artemis wondered what kind of people _his_ team is like. Honestly, she never even heard of a rumor of the eldest having a team. Does Bruce even know?

"_Actually, he does."_ Jason said, over the com-set. He laughed when she gave him a look. Did she say that out loud? "_He just doesn't approve who I run with though. But he can't force me to stop."_

"You are totally guilt-tripping him." She remarked. She could just see Jason with his shit-eating grin behind that helmet right now. "Have you ever thought of joining the _our_ team though?"

"_No. You guys can't even do a recon mission right."_

"No comment." Artemis snorted. For some reason, all of their reconnaissance missions always end up with buildings blown up and fighting everyone. In the end, they always get the information needed despite things were blown up and stuff…

It was another ten minutes when they finally arrived at the top of the hill. Her bike pulled up to a large—a freaking alien ship?! Holy shit, where the hell did he even get that?

Jason jumps off his bikes as he takes off his helmet. The blaring noise of as the hatch unlocked itself with the clear mist frightened Artemis a bit. As the mist cleared out, revealing two red-heads, they strolled down the ramp and greeted them.

"_Roy?_" Artemis said incredulously. She glanced at Jason, and then back at Roy.

"The one and only." Roy presented himself with his arms raised. "And the name is Arsenal."

Artemis snorts and of course he would choose that name. Anything to get rid of the horrid name _Purple Arrow. _Oliver finally got over the whole naming his protégés ending with an Arrow hero name and Artemis happily went back to being Artemis. Red Arrow stayed as Red Arrow. Purple Arrow changed to Arsenal.

Then she glances at the unfamiliar person. Her long fiery locks came all the way to the ground and her emerald eyes glows under the sun ray. The unfamiliar girl approaches Artemis with her hand out. "I'm Koriand'r, but you can also call me Starfire."

"Artemis." She takes her hand, a firm handshake is given. She smirks and she's given a smile back. "I hope these idiots haven't been given you a hard time." The chorus of protest from the boys on their left made them laugh and Artemis proceeded with a small talk with Kori. To think the boys are working with someone out of their league is baffling information for her.

Just as the girls entered the ship with the boys following right behind them, they were greeted by another guest. One that shouldn't even be here in the first place.

"_Robin?_ What are you doing here?" Artemis hissed. Next to her, she heard a grumble from Jason and a distinct _so this is where he went._

The youngest saluted at them with a smirk. "Well, I couldn't miss out on a mission a like this." Then he turns to his eldest brother. "Don't worry, Jay. Batman knows I'm with you."

Artemis glanced at Jason with a horrified expression. The thought of her foster dad taking care of Tim and Stephanie by himself is something he can barely handle. Let alone Stephanie, _ohmygod_. "Alfred is coming back tomorrow right?"

"He can handle them for a night. I set aside some guidelines ahead of time." Red Hood trailed off. So he knew that Robin was going to come no matter what. But the tone of his voice sounded like he was unsure if Bruce could even last a night.

Even she was unsure if Bruce would even manage without Alfred for a night with the kids.

.

"Sh-Sh-Shit!" Red Arrow cursed loudly as he hugged himself for warmth. The temperature of Tibet was harshly cold and Artemis hugged herself for warmth also. She now wished she bought more cover. She looked over to her side and sees her boys' just fine despite how freezing it was. She'd give props for Robin to remain stoned face the whole time. Artemis wouldn't be surprised if Jason's helmet came with a heater. As for Starfire, donned nothing but her bra and underwear, Artemis seriously wished the Princess could radiate heat to share her warmth.

"You should've worn your Batgirl outfit." Robin piped up, next to her.

Artemis slightly jumped at his voice. She was so engrossed with the fact she wished she had Starfire heat right now, she didn't notice him. "Why would I wear that? Batgirl is a Gotham night thing."

The young bird grinned. "It comes with its personal heater. Once the costume notices a temperature change, the costume itself heats up." Then he points to his costume and at his brother's.

"No wonder you guys aren't cold!" She hissed angrily. If only she knew about that feature on Batgirl's costume, she would've brought just in case. "Why didn't Ollie install this into our costumes?" She huffed and began walking very fast away from Robin. The giggle from the youngest member of the group went unnoticed until she turned and gave him a glare.

Red Hood who unexpectedly lifted his hand and he pointed just right ahead. Artemis ran to catch up to Red Hood and within the frozen white rain, the temple revealed itself. It was just as she remembered when she trained here with her dad a long time ago. Just soon after they left Gotham.

Arsenal took out his binoculars as he counted how many men were patrolling the temple. "It's not a lot." He hands the binoculars to Red Hood. "We can take them out all out easy."

Red Hood nods and immediately laid down the game plan. Get in. Get the kid. Kick some ass here and there. Finally, get the hell out of there before someone else arrives. It's a simple plan, really. Especially with the original map of the temple that Robin managed to find, the job shouldn't be so hard now.

.

Damn, she spoke too soon. Just as the team infiltrated the temple while taking down a couple monks on the way down outside and inside, they manage to find themselves lost. So far, they scraped the plan of following the map that Robin has and now they were beating down every door and not being so sneaky about it.

Basically, they opened the door, they get spotted, they kick serious ass.

"This kid better be worth it." Arsenal quickly strikes his opponent with his bow and draws an arrow.

Artemis snorts and backs up against her 'brother'. Even though she was adopted by the Wayne family, she couldn't help but still consider the Harpers as her brothers. Brothers she wished she had when she was growing up. Which is something she'll never admit to the Roy's. "The kid is worth it." She fires an arrow at the nearby enemy and draws another one.

Robin shows up behind her, with his eskrima sticks in hand. "I heard this kid is going to be our little brother. I don't think Bruce can handle another one."

"Seconded." Red Hood says as he leaps next to his little brother. He quickly reloads his bullets and immediately aims at the enemies knees.

Artemis shoots the last enemy on with a pinch of the knock-out gas. She approaches the door and prays to whomever that Damian is in there. She holds the handle, turning it slowly and peeks inside the room. Just as she slowly enters the new area, she was immediately caught off guard by the sudden knife that misses her by an inch.

By instinct, she easily caught all four knives thrown at her and felt the abrupt nostalgia. She smirks. "Damian. You know I'm not going down this easily."

A small child, no less than five years old drops down out of nowhere and his signature _–tt—_ is heard. "Crock."

Artemis sweetly smiled at the child. "Aww, I miss you too, Damian. But now, let's ditch this place."

Damian scoffed one more time before agreeing. Artemis automatically grabs for his hands to drag him away but she was slapped away. "Crock, I'm not a child. I can handle myself just fine!" He hissed. Then he gestures at the people behind Artemis. "And who are these… imbeciles?"

There were a couple of protests and groans with the combination of 'we came for this kid?' and 'how can Bruce create this with Talia?'. Artemis ignored what Damian said about being a grown up and he's not a kid and she just took his hand and ran. "The faster we get out of here, the faster I feel better about this place, ok?"

And so, the team backtracks all the way where they began and with a few conversations between Damian and the rest of the team. Such as 'are you really a kid?' and 'do you think bruce can handle a child assassin alone?' Answers are given such as 'yes i am you pretentious prick' and 'father will appreciate me because i _am_ his biological son' A few snorts and one 'bruce has officially created a demon child'

Just as the Outlaws arrive at the courtyard, they are immediately attack. "Shit, what are the League of Shadows doing here?" Arsenal cursed, fending off a couple of attackers.

Red Hood grunts as he headlocks an enemy just until he passes out and thrown the enemy at the incoming attackers. "Arsenal, get the ship ready. We'll cover for you."

He shoots one more arrow before he took off running with the team covering him. Before he could fire a grappling hook, Artemis quickly shoves Damian towards him. "Arsenal, take Damian with you."

"I can fight them with you!" Damian protests and struggles out of Arsenal's grip.

Artemis fires another arrow at her enemy before kneeling down before Damian and says, "I know you can fend them off but I think it'll be presentable when you finally meet your dad. And it also makes us look responsible too but that's another point…"

Damian opens his mouth to protest some more, but the look from Artemis decides to go along with it. With a mutter of insults under his breath, he agrees and stops struggling against Arsenal's hold. "Crock, you better return this to me when you reach the ship." He whips the small item in his hand revealing a collapsible sword and hands it over to her. She takes it and nods at Arsenal.

"Well, well, well, sis. That was simply charming. I think the boy is quite smitten with you."

She froze at the familiar voice behind her and instantly whirls around and points an arrow at her enemy. "Don't even call me that, Athena."

Athena grins, the very ill-intention radiates off her as she draws her bow and arrow. "We are sisters' sis. I think the fact that I'm the very _clone _of you counts!"

.

Robin breathes out slowly, just as he beats down the last League of Shadow minion and he looks around for any familiar faces. Just a few meters away, he spotted his brother and proceeded to jogged towards him. "Hood, we're clear on my side."

"Clear in the sky." Starfire reported above them.

Red Hood nods and he scans the courtyard one more time for any enemies. "Let's head to the ship now."

"Wait, where's Artemis?" Robin inquires, panic rising in his chest as he whirls one more time for the blonde archer. The sudden whirring noises from the ship as it hover over them, Robin felt a tug on his uniform as he is gently lifts off from the ground.

And once Robin reaches some elevation, he spots Artemis at the edge of the roof on one of the buildings, completely roughen up as she weakly waves at them with a tired smile plastered on her face. Then something—someone behind her wrapped their hands around her tightly. The visible blade completely went through her abdominal and her expression contorts into fear and pain.

The next moment was a blur to him just as his teammate, his classmate, his best friend…

…stumble at the edge and watch as she fell down.

* * *

_**Hahhhh. I didn't mean to end the chapter like this. more info on this 'athena' obiviously, next chapter. and yay. timeskip. these past twelve chapters are currently set in 2011 and next chapter should be set around 2016 nearing 2017.  
**_


End file.
